After Dusk
by B3ani3BabyFr3ak
Summary: One year after a tragic incident, Chris, his sister, and seven of his friends revisit the lodge where the event took place. But when strange happenings come to this winter wonderland, the revisit turns into a situation that could cost their lives. (Rated T for language and gore) [COMPLETE]
1. Chapter 1

**Hey readers. I'm back with another story, and it surprisingly isn't COD. I've finally set something that I work on, and I hope I can keep this story going until the end. I'm actually a little nervous to post this. It's 'first story jitters' if you know what I mean. But yeah :3 I hope you like it**

* * *

 _02:00_

"Hey Leslie," I looked up, seeing my 'older friend' (I think she's my friend), Beth, approaching me. I shut the book I was reading and turned my attention to my BFF, who was seating herself in the chair next to me.

"Talk to me, sister," Beth began, putting her arm around my shoulder, "So, how's highschool for ya?"

I shrugged, "It's got its ups and downs."

"Yeah... Is Chris still doing that techie stuff?"

"Heh, you bet. He spends most of his time in his room doing those 'nerdy things'."

"Well, you seem to be a nerd yourself."

"Am not!"

"Oh yeah? I've seen you many times and you've always got a book in your hand."

"Well..."

"What are you reading anyway?"

"It's uh... _A Head Full of Ghosts_."

"What's it about?"

"Well, there's this girl who is expressing signs of schizophrenia."

"Uh-Huh."

"And her parents-"

"What the-Hannah?" Beth stopped listening to me and glued her eyes to the window. I saw what she saw. Her older, twin sister, Hannah was running out of the house with no jacket on and going out into the wilderness. Beth got up and went into the livingroom. I followed behind, seeing that Chris' other friends(Ashley, Jessica, Emily, Sam, Matt, and Mike) were going outside the front door as well, yet not going after their run-away friend. Sam called out for Hannah's name. I walked outside was well, clueless of what happened. Beth came bursting through the crowd, zipping up her hot-pink winter coat, "What's going on? Where's my sister going?"

"Ugh, it's fine," Jessica scoffed, "She just can't take a joke."

"It was just a prank, Han!" Emily called, not as loud as Sam's.

"What did you guys do?" I questioned.

"We were just messing around," Mike explained, "It wasn't serious-"

"You jerks!" Beth snapped, and turned around to run out into the snowy wind blowing west. All of us stood there, unsure of what to do. I looked at everyone's unsure faces. All except for Sam, didn't look sorry for the 'prank' they pulled on Hannah. It seemed clear that Sam had nothing to do with it, but she didn't step off the deck to run after her friends. She just looked at everyone with this look saying, _"Well, are you satisfied?"_

"So... Should we go after her?" Mike asked.

"Y'know, I kinda think you're the last person she wants to see right now, Mike," Sam hissed.

I clenched my fists, having the strong urge to go after the twin sisters. I finally took two steps forward, hesitant of the decision I was making at first. "Woah, Leslie," Matt began, "You're going after them?"

I took one good look at this douche-bag, and I spat, "Asshole." I ran out into the storm, and soon found myself running on a dark path in between rocks and trees. It was difficult to see at first, since the snow was blowing into my eyes. I kept my eyes on the ground, since I clearly saw Beth's footprints. I was not prepared for this. I didn't have a jacket on, my forearms were exposed to the cold temperature, and if I've known I'd be sprinting in ankle-deep snow, I wouldn't have worn uggs. I scaled down some wooden steps that were descending deeper into the forest. Then two footprints turned into four, and I could only think that these belonged to Beth and Hannah. The snow died down as I got underneath the clamped pine branches. Though my vision didn't seem clear enough to see that Beth had leaped down from a steep, yet short, rock cliff. I ended up falling for a short second and landing on my stomach. I wheezed and coughed, putting my hand on my rib cage. My fingertips were starting to turn numb and white.

I got up. It was a little easier to see, but it was so damn dark. The snow started wetting through my uggs, and my toes started to feel the same numbing feeling like my fingers. I jogged slowly. "H-Hannah...! Beth! W-Where are you?" I coughed. I stumbled across something that appeared to be wooden. It also had horns on each side. I picked it up. It had black outlines, and a weird looking face. _A totem._ I laughed a little, "How long have you been here?" I set it down and got up into a standing position. I was suddenly startled by high-pitched screams. "Holy...- Hannah! Beth!" I picked up my pace again. Their footsteps were printed across a bridge.

But right as I got across, I stopped. I saw a man, dressed heavily, and was nearly prone. He had his arm dangling over a cliff, as if he were reaching out for something. Beside him, there was some sort of metal object, sort of shaped like a heavy machine gun only bigger. He hulled himself up to his feet and sighed deeply. I still stood frozen, sensing him as a threat. Hannah and Beth's footprints lead up to him, and then over the cliff. He picked up the object and turned facing me. I exhaled shakily turned back the way I came. Energy was springing up through my body, and each breath I took was quick and deep.

I tripped, nearly having an ugg slip from my foot. I turned over on my back, keeping my head up and my eyes ahead. I saw flames come out of the shadows. "That's..." I panted, "That's a flamethrower! Oh my God!" I got back up and ran up a steep hill. It turned back into a flat path, and the snow began blowing into my eyes. But I knew I was close since I could sense warm smoke coming from the lodge. In the snowy wind, I saw the lodge, and Sam was still out there. She seemed like she was about to head inside, until I let out a high, frail cry, "Sam!"

She fortunately stopped and turned around, and our eyes met. She jogged up to me just in time as I tripped again, only to land in her arms. "Jesus, you're chilled to the bone!" She exclaimed, and she lead me inside the lodge. I felt the heat touch my skin, but I didn't feel any better. "Are you okay? What happened?" Sam asked. All that came from my mouth were chattering teeth due to being out in the cold. Sam had her hand on my shoulder, leading me into the living room, where everyone else had their attention focused on me. Josh and Chris were next to each other, still a little drunk from their earlier drink.

I sat myself on the couch next to Jessica, and she did her teenage scoff at me, "Ew... You smell like BO."

I only glared at her as Sam put a blanket over my back. "Not that I'm being mean," Mike said, "But she's right-"

"Shut up, both of you" Sam said.

"Let me finish... What happened to you, Leslie? Where's Hannah and Beth?"

 _Hannah and Beth... Oh no._ Josh was sober enough to hear what Mike just said, "H-Hannah *Hic* Beth... They're gone?"

With no warning, tears sprung from my eyes. I buried my hands into my watery eyes, not wanting anyone to see me. But I knew that everyone was giving me a look until they heard an answer.

"I-I... I lost them."


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my God. Readers, this had been a stressful week, but next week will be even more stressful DX. Finals are coming! Anyways, here's a chapter for you all.**

* * *

 ***** **One Year Later** *****

I sat staring out of the window for a moment, watching the afternoon snow fall down to the ground. I huddled the blanket resting on my shoulders closer and leaned back against my bed. I brushed one of the bangs out of my face and looked at the clock. 1:30. My mom and dad had a wedding to attend, so they should be taking their leave right about now. "Leslie!" I heard my mom's soft voice call from downstairs. I switched off my phone and slipped into my grey slippers, descending downstairs to see both my parents putting their jackets on. "Hey," Mom said, "So you've got all the numbers."

"Yup," I said.

"Okay. Call them if you ever need anything. You can call us as well, and keep the doors locked-"

"Mom. I'll be fine."

"Promise you won't burn the house down?"

"When did that ever happen?"

"I'm just checkin'!"

Both of us laughed and returned each other with a hug. Dad walked over, "I'll see you when you get back."

"Have fun tonight." He planted a kiss on my forehead as he followed his wife out the door. I stood in silence as my parents cautiously drove out of the driveway, making their way to their destination. I sighed and looked at one of the family photos. My older brother, Chris, was beside me in this one. He had me in a headlock while ruffling my hair up, and there I was. His glasses were on me instead, and I had this huge smile written across my lips. _Where did that smile go?_ I mean, I smile every so often, but it always looks like I'm forcing it. True. I've got to do it when I've got to. But my smile has been broken since the event that took place one year ago.

It was a celebration Chris and his friends were having, and I decided to tag a long just so I could be social. I obviously wasn't until I met up with Hannah. She had told me about how happy she was to see everyone, especially Mike. I liked her and Beth. Even if they didn't feel like we were exactly friends, it's good to see they're at least nice. On that same night when I said to everyone, "I lost them", I never said anything else after that. Josh was still sober enough to understand my answer, and he and his parents arranged an investigation in the lodge area in search for his sisters. I would've helped with the search, but I lost the footprints and I didn't know where I had chased Beth off to. But I knew that those twin sisters weren't coming back alive. Even one year later, their bodies were not yet found. I knew that Josh would be going through some hard times, knowing that he'd be spending the rest of his life alone.

I wanted to talk to him, but also considering that I was the last one near his sisters, it's only imaginable that he wouldn't even look at me or talk to me. I barely talked to any of Chris' friends, even though they were actually a little fun to be around. But now, I don't even like them anymore. They're heartless and unpleasant. I know that Sam didn't have anything to do with the prank they played on Hannah but... Okay. She's acceptable. But as for the rest, I'd rather not see their unforgiving faces again.

* * *

 _08:01_

The fire was lit along with a spotless house. I held a warm mug of tea while sinking further down into the couch. My eyes were glued on the TV screen, watching some graphic images from an old, cheesy horror movie. "Told you not to go in there," I said. I couldn't help but laugh as well at the cheap effects used for this scene. Suddenly, the doorbell rang and echoed throughout the house. I turned the volume down and paused the movie. As I got up and walked over to the door, I saw a familiar face looking through the window. "Chris?" I murmured in confusion. I opened the door. "Hey, sis," he greeted, rubbing his hands to get warm.

"Um, hi," I replied, "W-What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was going to visit some friends, but Mom called and _demanded_ that I look after you tonight."

"What?"

"She's uh... Pretty worried about you."

"Right... But all I was going to do was watch movies and stay inside."

"I figured," Chris shrugged his shoulders, "It's very...'you'."

I crossed my arms, and ran my tongue across my bottom lip once, "You want me to come along, huh?"

"W-Well-"

"No way, Chris but thank you-" Before the door shut all the way, Chris caught it and held it forcefully with his forearm. _Pretty damn strong for a nerd._ "Leslie-"

"I said no," I whined, "I'm not going to spend the evening getting wasted with your stupid friends."

"They're not stupid-"

"I'm sorry! Have you forgotten about their joke that made two girls disappear?"

"They've changed now."

I laughed hoarsely, "Oh, I'd love to see Jessica then-"

"They've changed ad I can assure you that you can be around them with no problem."

"I. Am. Not. Going. Period."

Chris pursed his lips and shrugged, "Alright. You can stay here. But I'll just be sharing those 'funny moments' all focused on you."

"You'll what?!"

"That's right."

I stood clenching my fists and biting down hard on my teeth. I know that they'll forget those stories later on, but even now, they can't know. I finally growled, "Fine. I'll come."

"Get ready then. We're not in a rush." I slammed the door finally and stomped up to my room. I let out a large and deep groan. Then I muttered complaints while putting on some black skinny jeans and a dark grey long-sleeved shirt. Over it, I put on a black and white flannel and rolled up the sleeves on it to make myself look a little fashionable. Then I zipped up my black winter coat and put on my black combat boots as the finishing touch. I also packed an extra change of clothes incase I get thrown up on or something else comes in the way.

Before leaving the house, I switched off the fire place and lights. My phone was fully charged and I made my way over to Chris' car. "You good?" He questioned.

"Just go," I sighed.

"Okay, okay. I'll leave you alone then." He started the engine and I "plugged" into my phone.

* * *

About forty-five minutes later, I finally cooled my head off a little. I just finished a video Josh put up. By the look of it, he seemed pretty chill. Though he had brought up his sisters once and informed his viewers that he was okay. Aside from that, he seemed to be his plain, old self; energetic and a little immature. I powered down my phone and leaned back in my seat. "You good?" Chris asked.

"I still hate you," I said.

"You can stay for one night, Leslie. 'Kay?"

I looked over, "Josh doesn't mind, right?"

"What?"

"He, or anyone else... They don't mind that I'll be there, right?"

"No. Not at all. What brought this up?"

"It's just... Stuff younger siblings think."

"Gotcha. Well, if they are being obnoxious around you, I'll deal with it."

"Why'd you become friends with those jerks anyway?"

"First it was with Josh, and we've been friends for quite a while."

"How long is a while?"

"Heh, I'll save that story for another time. We're here now."

I looked out of the window, seeing a snowy forest. Along with that, there was a sign that read, _Blackwood Pines._

 _Gee, where have I seen this before?_


	3. Chapter 3

_20:55_

Chris tugged at the gate to see if he could somehow get it open. It wasn't stuck, but it couldn't open either. I blew some steam into my hands and looked around. It was weird coming back to this place. We haven't gotten back up to the lodge, but already I'm feeling queezy. "Shoot," Chris sighed, "Well, it looks like we're not getting in this way."

"Guess we're not going then," I shrugged, turning around. But before I could get far, Chris locked his fingers around the collar of my jacket and tugged me back, "Not yet."

I groaned and gave him my look of complaint. "Now hold on," he eyes the gate and wall, snapping his fingers once, "There fortunately a plan B."

He let go of my collar and walked back to the gate. He got out a slip of paper and a sharpie, writing some large words on it. "Chris," I asked, "What's your plan B exactly?"

"We..." Chris stuck the note in between two thin, open parts of the gate, "Are going to climb the wall."

"Climb over?"

"It'll be easy. Watch and learn, baby sister"

I crossed my arms as my dorky brother worked his magic. He went over to the wall, beginning to scale it up with caution. As he got up to the last push, he slipped and fell right back onto the fluffy and solid ground. He grunted and laid there for a minute, out of breath. "I almost had it," He groaned. I only scoffed, and obviously, Chris heard me, "Well see if you can give it try."

"Okay." I stepped over Chris and looked at how I was going to get up and over. I used my brother's first strategy, use parts of the wall that stick out and get up higher. As I placed my fingers on top of the wall, I purposely kicked my foot out to let Chris know I was going to take the fall too. He was panicked for a moment, which got a laugh out of my smiling mouth. After joking with him, I finally got up and over the wall. "That's how it's done, big brother," I said.

"Well done, show off," He clapped before following my footsteps. I was sort of starting to feel a little better after the little hot head I wore earlier. As Chris hopped down to the other side, he gave me a pat on the shoulder before following him down the path he led. Though for some reason, I just started feeling a bit queezy just by stepping further and further ahead. As we stepped closer, I kept getting an unsure feeling that flowed through my legs and arms. It almost felt like I couldn't move them at all. Then we approached the end of the path, which went in a different direction than straight, and pinned to the rock at the end of the path was a sign that read;

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND BUTTERFLY PROPHECIES

'Tribes who once lived in these mountains believed that butterflies  
carried dreams and prophecies of possible futures.  
The color of the butterfly indicated the nature of the prophecy.'

DEATH: Black butterflies prophesied the dreamer's death.

DANGER: Red butterflies warned of dangerous events.

LOSS: Brown butterflies foretold of tragedy affecting friends.

GUIDANCE: Yellow butterflies offered vision to help and guide.

FORTUNE: White butterflies brought dreams of luck and good fortune.

Then on the ground, there just happened to be a totem with yellow outlines. _How many of these things are there?_

"Leslie!" I heard Chris calling me and I stood back up, dropping the totem.

"Coming!" And I ran in the direction of his voice, seeing that he was at the cable car station and setting his backpack down on one of the benches. I forced myself to smile to reassure him that I was in one piece, and he tilted his head, "Something wrong?"

"N-No," I laughed nervously, "It's uh... It's just weird coming back here."

"Yeah. I understand. But it'll be fine. Okay?"

"'Kay... So what're we doing now?"

"The cable car's pretty far right now, so I figured we'd kill some time."

"Doing what?"

"Doing something. I was going to check the back just for the heck of it."

"Be on your way then. I'll stay here."

I sat beside Chris' backpack and huddled next it. The bag still had a little bit of his body heat on the back and it was nice getting some warmth on my hands. Though seconds after I was getting a little cozy, he called me from behind the station. I didn't move for a moment, and it wasn't long after he called me, Chris came running over instead. "Leslie, c'mon," he said, "I found something cool."

I made no complaint as I followed him to the back of the building, only to see that this cool thing he was talking about wasn't really cool at all. "Look at this!" Chris said with a laugh, directing me to look at the shooting range he discovered, "It's cool, right?"

"I guess," I murmured.

"I'm gonna see if I can find a gun or something. Can you set up anything I can shoot at?"

"If that means making the cable car move faster, then I'm up for it."

I went into the open of the range and saw some beer bottles and cans. This was more of a recycling center than a shooting range. But I picked up a couple bottles and cans and set them up on a few stumps. Suddenly, behind the dark pine trees, I heard a twig snap and I looked up in a alarm. _Definitely weird being back here._ I inhaled and exhaled, "Relax."

I got out of the shooting range only to see that Chris had returned with a rifle and a couple of shots to go with it. But before I could say anything, I saw Sam approaching the cable station, heading towards my brother's backpack. "We've got a visitor," I advised to Chris, and he looked over, setting the rifle down.

"Well let's say 'hi'," He said, gently taking my wrist and pulling me towards the front of the station.

"Uh... I'll just stay here for now."

"You're not that shy six-year-old anymore, Leslie. Now come on."

I was reluctant to join him in the greeting, and I slipped out of his grasp as he went over to Sam, who snooping on Chris' phone. Startled by him making an appearance behind her, she nearly dropped it.

"I'm sorry, are you my secretary?" He joked. _There he goes being himself._

"It was ringing!" Sam explained.

"Cool. Well, I can take it from here." Sam handed the phone to Chris as he quickly changed the subject as well, "Oh! So, I found something kinda amazing."

"What?"

"I'm not gonna tell you. You gotta see for yourself."

"Is Leslie here too?"

Now realizing that i wasn't with him, Chris looked around and saw me hiding in the shadows, "Leslie!"

I couldn't really hide from Chris' friends anymore, and I stepped out while showing my shyness. "Hey you!" Sam greeted, walking over to hug me, "I haven't seen you in a while."

I shrugged and smiled wanly, "Yeah. I-It's good to see you." We broke away at the same time, "Anyways, I think Chris wanted to show us something."

"Right this way, ladies."

Chris led us to the back of the station and spread his arms out as he got close enough to the shooting range, "Tada! Pretty rad, right?"

"Yeah!" Sam said sarcastically.

"C'mon! Look at these beauties!" Chris started loading up the rifle.

"'Beauties' isn't the word that comes to mind," I muttered.

"Why is this even here?" Sam asked, and Chris replied in a question, "What do you mean?"

"What the hell is a shooting range doing at the base of a ski lodge?"

"Dude. Have you ever met Josh's dad?"

"Yeah?"

"He thinks he's like Grizzly Adams or something. Wanna try?"

"No, you go ahead Grizzly."

Chris turned around picked the rifle off of the table in front of him and aimed down, taking his first shot off of a sandbag hanging from a tree. I was startled at first, and Sam chuckled as she huddled me in closer. _Man, she smells good. What's that perfume?_ "Chris took a few other shots all were direct hits. "Wow, nice shootin, Tex," Sam said in a fake, southern accent.

"Alright! I'm bad!" Chris did a little shuffle dance, "I'm a badass!"

"I'm going to guess that was a wild case of beginner's luck."

"Nah, I don't think so, girlie." _Is this seriously how Chris acts around his friends?_ He shot at a large, close ranged bottle. "So, anyone and their brother could shoot a bottle that big that close!"

Then, running onto one of the stumps, was small squirrel, curiously sniffing at the marks left in the snow. I grew a little worried at that point. I mean it's just a creature, but Chris wouldn't shoot an innocent-looking animal. Would he? "Chris, don't-"

"I know. I'll let it go." He aimed and shot at another sandbag as the squirrel ran off.

"Nice shot," Sam commented.

"Your ass just got saaacked!"

Both of us rolled our eyes at that pun, and I stepped forward, "Chris, can I... Have a shot?"

"Mm-hmm. Step right up."

I did so, taking the rifle slowly from Chris' hands. "Grip it tightly. I don't want it flying off of your fingers."

"I've got it."

"Okay. Light her up."

Chris moved away and I aimed for one of the unshot cans. As I pulled the trigger, I saw that my bullet didn't pierce anything. I lowered the gun, "I missed..."

"That's alright. We'll try again."

"Well, Sharpshooters, our ride's here anyway," Sam spoke walking back to the front of the station. My big brother rubbed my shoulder as I set the rifle down on the table, following my seniors to the front of the cable station. Sam tried opening the door, "Hey that's weird. It's locked."

"Yeah," Chris said, "Josh wanted us to keep it locked. To keep it locked."

"He said that? What people?"

"I dunno. He said they found people sleeping in the station one time."

"Creepy." Chris held out a key and unlocked the door, letting us in. Sam went to the rail and waited for the cable car to get closer. While I went with my older sibling into another room of the cable station. On one of the walls there hung a poster, advertising the ski lodge. Hotel and... Sanatorium?

"What's a sanatorium?"

"It's basically a hospital."

"A hospital in the middle of a mountain?"

"I didn't build this place. You should ask Josh when we see him."

"Didn't his parents just buy this place?"

"Well, he knows the ground better than others."

I turned around to see that the cable car had finally came to a stop at the station. "Finally. You guys comin'?" Sam asked.

"Well I was gonna stay here and catch some Zzzzzs," Chris said, "But alright."

I followed them both into the cable car, closing the door on my way in and then sitting in the far end of the cable car by myself. A slight jolt shook our transportation, but we had began ascending up the mountain.

"I hope this was the right thing to do," I groaned.

"What?"Chris questioned.

"Well, you said everyone was coming and tonight's the anniversary of... You know what. But Josh seemed pretty pumped about this."

"I haven't seen him so excited about something in... forever."

"Well, it's hard to tell with him," Sam said, "And I've kinda been worried."

"Guys, no. It was a good idea."

"Let's hope everyone feels the same way."

"We're all here, aren't we."

"Thanks, bro. Good talk."

Chris shrugged, "Let's just stop talking about what happened and enjoy the trip. You know how Josh and I met?" I looked over and smirked, and he gave me a smirk. _This ought to be good._

"Okay. Third grade. Josh sat in the back of the room, I sat in the back. We didn't even know each other existed! But the kid sitting next to Josh started strap-snapping the girl's training bra in front of him. So the teacher made him move to the front, wear I was sitting!" _I didn't know girls could wear bras at such a young age._

"Okay so?"

"So I got moved to the back. And next to Josh! That's how we met." I raised an eye-brow at him and rested my head on my hand, "Seriously?"

"Well, if it weren't for the fact that Jeanie Simmonds hit puberty like three years early, and on that day decided to wear a low cut shirt that showed off her training bra," He turned to address Sam, "I mean, who knows. You could be riding this cable car alone. Right now! Or talking to some other person entirely. Boom! Butterfly effect."

"Wow..."

"Okay, 'Miss I'm Unimpressed', if you think my story was boring, why don't you tell us how you met _your_ little friend."

My face turned red at that point. Meeting my real friend was in middle school, and I bumped into a boy named Mike. He was tall, handsome. He was just like the 'Mike' I knew one year ago. We hung around each other for a while until we were in our own little friend zone. We only had math together and I didn't usually see him during passing periods. Then on the fourteenth of February, he asked me out to the Valentines Dance, and like every teenage girl, I accepted. He also said he was going with a few other friends.

What an awkward moment that was.

When we got there, I saw that he was leading me to a small group of friends, and Chris was in that same group. When we saw each other. God, I just wanted to walk out and drown that memory. But it was awkward for Chris too; seeing that his best friend was connected with his little sister. It wasn't until my Sophomore year of high school when I started spending some time around Chris and his friends again. Mike was hooked up with Emily, but it didn't bother me. I've made a bond with the Washington sisters, and it was a good friendship for a while.

"No thank you," I said, trying not to let my voice waver with humiliation.

"Yeah, Chris," Sam said, "Let's not go back to that moment. It was a little awkward for everyone."

"Thanks, Samantha."

* * *

 **Okay. So I'm going to end it here (Obviously). But I forgot to do this before, and this was how they introduced the 'Until Dawn' Characters.**

 **So this is Leslie, and she's Chris' younger sister.**

 **She's independent, shrewd, and cheeky**

 **Okay that's all. Have a good holiday!**


	4. Chapter 4

_21:17_

"Is anyone out there?" Sam asked impatiently, rubbing her arms. After a long ride up the mountain, we had arrived to the elevated station, yet the door was locked from the other side. Chris stated that this door didn't require a key. I really was in no rush, but it sucked being trapped in here for God knows how long. My big brother tried breaking down the door, but he didn't really put much effort into his breach.

"Alright," He said, "I'm gonna try again." He backed up and rammed his side arm into the door, just in time as he frightened a figure who just walked to the door. "Wa- Jess! Hey!" Chris raised his voice and slapped his hand against the the glass of the window.

"Uh... Are you guys having a really weird stroke?" Jessica said, still a little shaken up.

"We're stuck in this stupid thing."

"Can you _please_ let us out? Pretty please?" Sam pleaded, and Jessica did so.

Surprisingly calm, Chris opened the door and walked out, inhaling, "Oh. My. God! I thought we were goners. Another ten minutes and I would've chewed off my own leg."

"Gross, bro," I gagged a little.

"Look I got a lot of meat on my bones," He stroked his thigh down once, "This is all muscle down here."

"And I haven't seen you in a while," Jessica looked over at me, "It's almost like you've disappeared."

"Thanks...?"

Suddenly, Chris quickly swiped something from Jessica's hand, "Hey!"

"I'm just doing like Sam taught me," He said, "Other people's private thoughts are my own personal playground."

"Do not be a jerk!" Sam said, crossing her arms. Chris held one hand up in the air, silencing her as he eyed Jessica's pink envelope, and he spoke in a bit a dramatic tone, "My goodness. Seems that some one has a lil' crush on our good friend and dear class president, Michael Monroe."

"Chris-"

"And what kind of sizzling erotica might our Jessica be capable of imagining? I wonder..."

I hid a smirk under my red-flannel scarf as Jessica tried reaching out for the envelope, " Give that back, you tool!"

"Tool and die," Chris winked at her, "That's my motto."

"You're such an idiot," She finally snatched the letter from his fingers, "Maybe nosey nancies shouldn't go nosing around in other people's... nostrils."

I looked at Chris with a blank open mouth, and he replied awkwardly, "Uh... Yeah, I try not to do that. As a rule."

I raised an eyebrow and turned to face Jess, "Come on, Jess. You can tell us. We can _totally_ keep secrets."

"Whatever. You'll figure it out eventually."

"Did a little drama get in between Mike and Em-"

"Okay, being a little snooper must run in your blood. Did you get that from those novels-"

"Alright ladies," Chris nudged in, "Let's not poke the bear anymore, and head up to the lodge already." He took my arm and pulled me gently away from Jessica. I felt a little more confident, giving a little hard time to "Miss Jessie". That's one of the things I'm good at doing, at least mostly towards Chris. "You guys go ahead," Jessica said, "I'm just gonna wait here for a bit... See who else is coming."

"You mean Mike?" I said in low, and as Chris calls it, "smoochy" tone.

"What?... I mean... You know... Whoever."

"Right, right-"

"Okay, baby sis," Chris gave me a gentle shove, while chuckling a little, "You take the lead. Sam, you're coming?"

I walk on ahead uphill and cleared my throat as I wiped off the smirk on my face. _Stop it, Leslie. You were upset, remember? You didn't want to come here._ I sighed, attempting to see if I can blow some steam rings out of my mouth. But all that came out was just a trail of heat, almost like I was smoking a cigarette. Then that unsure feeling hit me unexpectedly again. I stopped where I was and looked around. _Where am I again?_ I just now noticed that I drifted off the trail to the lodge. Though there was more to that. I felt very anxious. It was like I was being watched by someone.

Or something.

Suddenly, felt a pair of warm fingers grasp the sides of my stomach and a felt heat radiate on my back, joined with my surprised screaming. I quickly spun around, only to see that the pair of eyes watching me belonged to none other than Mike Monroe. He laughed, obviously amused by my reaction. "You shitstick! You scared the shit out of me!" I growled.

"Easy on the language, Lee," He kept laughing, "Didn't expect to frighten ya that hard." He put his hand on my shoulder, and I deflected it.

"And don't call me that."

"Leslie!" I heard Sam calling me out frantically, joined with Chris. I saw them coming towards both me and Mike, her questioning with alarm, "Are you okay? What happened?"

I simmered my heartbeat and sighed tensely, "Everything's fine. Just got jumped by this douche."

"Well for your information, Christopher, it seemed that your little sister was going into the woods and to Granny's house," He patted my back a bit to harshly, "Lodge is that way, Lee."

I glared at Mike and Chris didn't really know how to respond, finally saying, "I guess... Thanks for getting her back on track?"

"Sure. Sure, and uh... is Jessica here?"

"She's down by the station," Sam said, "I think she's waiting for you."

"Well, then. I'll go pay her a visit."

Mike ruffled up my hair as he made his way down hill. I cleared my throat, pretending that nothing happened, "Onward?"

"Let's," Sam nodded, and Chris followed her to the path. I stayed in my place and looked back, still having that feeling that something was lurking in the shadows. I sighed again. _It's just in your head._ I turned around, seeing that Chris was waiting for me while giving me a worried look, "You've changed since we've got here."

"So?"

"Well, first you were pissed to be coming here, then you cooled off, and now you're acting like there's a bear around here."

"It's possible... But I'm okay now."

"If you say so."

I walked close to Chris. _As long as I'm with him, he'll keep me safe._ We approached a small gate that wasn't necessary to climb over. We just opened it and passed on through. Then it was another walk uphill before crossing a bridge that lead to the lodge. From here, I could see Josh jogging up waving to Chris, "Hey, Chris, my bro!"

"Josh!" He ran up to Josh, greeting him with a high five. I kept my distance, pretending that Chris' "bro" didn't see me. "And..." Josh broke away from his best friend and spoke in a playful tone, "Who is this young lady over here?"

 _Oh no._ I felt his arms wrap around me, lifting me up and spinning around like five times, "How's the baby sister doin'? It's been long."

"Er... Hi Josh, and to answer your question; I'm doing fine. What about you?"

He put me down and replied with passion, "Awesome! Thanks asking _and_ coming."

"Didn't really have much of a choice, but I'm glad you're accepting me being here."

"No problem," He put his arm around my shoulder while inviting Chris to come under his other open arm. He came over, and we were huddled up like a sandwich. "Man, I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it," Chris says.

"Oh yeah?" Josh said, "Feels the same to me."

"Oh, come on. You grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking."

"I guess that's true."

I did feel a bit safer with these guys by me, it brought off the feeling. However, I couldn't forget how it felt to be stuck with insecure behavior. This one especially brought alarms. What if something risky were to happen tonight? Maybe a butterfly or totem will direct me. As soon as I knew it, I saw that we were at the entrance of the lodge. Waiting there were Sam, Ashley, and Matt. "Hey guys," Josh greeted, "Get up here okay?"

"Yeah! Ashley said, "Well, more or less, but it's so good to see you!" I turned my attention over to Matt, who looked as if he were frustrated or something. But he had his arms cross and his head low, having his shadow cover his brown eyes. To be friendly, I walked up to him and smiled nicely, "Hey."

"Hello," He greeted, not having any expression in his voice.

"Are you... doing okay-"

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. I just... I'd like to be alone for a minute."

"O-Oh... Sorry for i-intruding then..."

Chris and Josh came walking down from the steps, "So are we gonna get things moving up here?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's just that the door knob is frozen shut," Josh said, "Thankfully, our man Chris has got the master plan!"

Chris looked up from his conversation with Ashley, "Y-Yeah. Totally! Let's go." Before Josh and Chris could execute their plan, I jogged up to Josh and began speaking to him personally, "Hey, Josh."

"Yeah?"

"Are you doing alright? I-I mean... It must be really tough without your sis-"

"Stop. Just stop."

"I meant that-"

"No I know what you meant," There was a sudden change in Josh's eyes, almost as if he were disturbed or spacing out, but he went back to normal soon enough, "You know, seriously, I'm over it, and I just want us to have a good time , you know? Like we always used to."

"Right..."

Josh caught up with Chris and I stood clenching my fists and closing my eyes, whispering, "Sorry."

"Is everything okay, Leslie?" I heard Ashley behind me, and I turned around and answered quickly without acting like something was wrong, "Yup! Everything's fine."

 _Everything's fine._

 _Hopefully it'll remain that way._

* * *

 **I wanted to do an author's note, but there's really nothing to say. So here's a word of the day: UFO**


	5. Chapter 5

_22:00_

I tapped my foot against the crunchy snow. Chris' "Master Plan" sure was taking a long time, and the girl's and I were freezing our fingertips off. Matt had walked off elsewhere, I guess to be alone. Ashley and Sam were standing patiently, waiting for the door to magically open. But I stood away from the group, sort of wanting to be alone myself. I stared deeply into the dark forest, still feeling if I could catch any suspicion. So far...

Nothing.

 _Relax, Lee. It's going to be fine._ I sighed to myself, "See what you did, Mike?" Then I heard Ashley exhale as well, "What is taking those boys so long?" Ash had a good point. _How long does it take to break a window?_ I pushed myself gently off of the the house I leaned against and retraced Josh and Chris' footsteps. It sort of sent a chill down my spine just by looking at them. _This looks familiar._ Fortunately for me and the boys, it didn't lead towards a cliff. Instead, I found them moving a power box towards a small window. I casually walked towards them as Chris climbed on top of the box, nearly falling as he he stood up on it. "He's gonna fall!" I shrieked on purpose. This jumped Josh and nearly made Chris fall a second time. I smiled, happy with the little reaction.

"Jesus, Leslie," Chris sighed, "I could've actually fell to my death."

"Oh, it's not that high."

"Yeah, no need to be so dramatic, Chris," Josh said with a laugh.

Finally standing up straight, Chris propped up the window, sliding through the tiny little space of it. Then, as he got his entire body through, all Josh and I could hear was him tumbling down to the ground, and it really didn't sound pretty. Josh got on top of the power box and looked through the window. "I'm okay!" Chris informed, "Probably should've paid attention in climbing class..."

"You mean gym?" Josh shrugged, and that got a laugh out of me. But it was cut short when I heard a small glass break from the room Chris was in. "Chris what did you do?"

"Um... Nothing...?"

"The light bulb just broke," Josh explained as he tossed Chris his lighter, "Chris you must be a wizard."

I heard him laugh sarcastically as I invited myself to come on top of the power box and look inside the window. "Woah-Chris- I just had an awesome idea!" Josh exclaimed, and I glared to see what this next 'master-plan' was going to be.

"Well what is it?" Chris questioned.

"Okay. So, I'm _pretty_ sure I've got some deodorant in one of the bathrooms... You could use that with the lighter." I smirked. _I see where this is going._

"I don't follow," my clueless brother stated, "How's a stick of deodorant gonna help?"

I mentally face palmed, "Flamethrower, Chris. It's a spray on."

" _Correctomendo_ , Leslie."

Chris finally followed, "Oh yeah! I gotcha. Just like you do with the little army dudes!" I left my mouth open midway into that sentence.

"Yup. The ones we melted," Josh said, "Just point the spray can at the lighter and FWOOSH!"

"Bye-bye frozen lock."

"You guys burned up your toys?" I asked in confusion.

Josh ignored me, preparing to step off of the power box, "Alright, so you got this. I'm gonna go sort something out - You up for hunting around in the dark for a little bit?"

Chris shrugged, "No. But I'll do it."

"God speed, pil'grim!"

Josh stepped off, but I stayed, "So... Do you want me to come down there?"

"A-er... Sure," Chris said. He switched off the lighter and came towards the window.

"What're you doing?"

"I don't want you to break your spine."

"Oh. Right."

I slipped mostly the upper half of my body into the window, following by me feet which I lowered onto the wooden counter below me. I felt them touch and slid all the way through without a mark on me. "Good thing I paid attention in 'climbing class'," I giggled.

"You little cheeky something," Chris ruffled my hair a bit as he switched the lighter back on. I looked around. This looked like some sort of storage room with all the boxes and supplies. Laying besides one of the boxes was another totem. "Did Josh every pay attention to these things?" I asked out loud.

"What?"

"The totems. Did he ever notice they were just lying around?"

He walked over beside me as I was about to look at the totem with brown outlines. Before I could lay a finger on it, I felt like some sort of force struck my fingers. A small noise escaped my lips as I sort of felt paralyzed for a moment. "Leslie? Leslie?" Chris shook me, and I finally snapped out of the trance, "You're sort of having your ups and downs tonight."

I stood up, clearing my throat, "Yeah. I-I guess it's just... Something..."

"'Something' as in..."

"I don't know. Let's just get everyone else in here."

"Alright."

I stared at the totem, remembering what the brown color symbolized. _Loss. Could it mean we might lose someone tonight?_ I finally caught up with Chris, who had made his way up into another part of the house. It was slightly getting warmer, which could only mean that we're actually in the house. We passed by a family portrait of the Washington family, but that made me feel a little more worse inside.

Then, Chris and I paused for a moment when we heard a door creak open and shut. "You heard that right?" I asked.

"Uh... Yeah...

"Well, what the hell was that?"

"I-I don't know. This just could be 'The Night of Spooks'."

"Well, it's not very funny."

Chris opened another door. This time leading into the front of the lodge. He wiggled the front door handle and looked out of the fogged up window. "What-"

He told me to stay where I was, but he was smirking, which probably meant doing something stupid. Then he let out a ghostly howl. _Oh right. Sam and Ashley are still out there._

I saw Sam walk up to the window, "Hi Chris, very funny."

"Aw, how'd you know it was me?"

"Shouldn't you be like, getting the lock open or something?"

"On it," he sighed a bit, and I looked at Sam, waving before following Chris into more spaces of the lodge. "This is really depressing the hell out of me," I murmured.

"Almost there," Chris said, walking upstairs and into the bathroom. I looked around it. This place is really different the last time I remember it. Chris was reaching inside the bottom cabinet for something, but something else reached out for him. I yelped as a small creature lunged out of the cabinet and ran off. "Son of a-" My brother laid startled for a moment, and scrambled to get back up, "What the fuck-?" I sighed.

"Yup," I nodded, "There will be plenty of spooks tonight."

"On the bright side," Chris said, slightly waving a can of deodorant, "We've got what we need."

"Great. Now we can let that beast eat everyone we let in."

"Didn't rip me apart."

I followed him anxiously back to the front door, keeping an eye out for that 'thing'." But I bumped into Chris who was just beginning to burn off the frozen lock.

"S-Sorry," I sighed. I was beginning to get wigged out. I was getting myself worked up all because of what had happened one year ago. Chris opened the door, but Sam and Ashley didn't seem quite satisfied. But he bowed anyway, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week-" Brushing past are legs was that little rodent from earlier. Chris and I yelled once again, and the girls seemed a little startled as well, but they hid it with a laugh.

"Like brother like sister, huh?" I said, trying to play it off.

"Crap, that thing freaked me out," Chris sighed.

"What as it?" Ashley giggled, "Are you okay?"

"It was like a bear, or a tiger, or something-"

"Aw, it was just a cute little baby wolverine!" Sam said.

"Baby?"

Josh came up behind the girls, "Don't worry buddy, you're gonna be a big boy soon."

We stood out of the way and let everyone enter one at a time, even Matt had followed in after spending a good amount of time alone.

"Well, at least no one's going to die tonight."

* * *

 **Yet...**


	6. Chapter 6

_22:28_

I took a look around in the lodge, seeing how it rotted over the one year we were away from it. It actually didn't look too shabby. Maybe it needed a little bit of dusting here and there, but it hasn't changed overall. "Oh my gosh," I heard Ashley sigh, "It's so good to be inside! Even if it's still kinda freezing in here." I chuckled and nodded. Then over on the couch, under the white sheet, where was a rectangular lump. Curiously, I walked over and lifted the sheet, and under was an old copy of Paul Tremblay's, _A Head Full of Ghosts_. I smiled, taking the small book into my hands. "Hello, 'old friend'," I said in a low tone. The book still had the bookmark from where I last left it. "Whatcha got there?" Chris questioned, taking off his jacket.

I swiveled around, smirking wanly, "Just a book."

"That's it?"

"Mm... It's been a long time since I've read this."

I seated myself on the couch, opening to the page I left off on. Though before I could get comfortable, I heard an energetic voice coming from an amped up Mike, "What's up party people!"

I rolled my eyes as Jessica followed in behind. Josh greeted them as he started getting the fire going, "Make yourself at home bro."

"Will do."

"Yeah," Matt began, stating in a dull and sarcastic tone, "Come on in. Take a load off, have whatever you want." He walked up to Mike so close, almost like he wanted to start a brawl with him, "You just take whatever you want anyways, right?" I lowered my book, smiling just a little bit.

"Woah, easy there cowboy," Mike put his hands up defensively.

"What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trail, huh?" _And so the drama begins._

"What?"

"I saw you and Em. Through the telescope."

"Before? Dude, we just ran into each other. It'd been a while so we hugged and I said hello. Is that against the law?"

Matt stood there in silence for a few seconds, and he nodded, stammering as he went, "Right... Y-Yeah... Duh. Sorry, it's been kind of a long day. I overreacted." My grin faded and I shook my head, opening the small book and scrolling my eyes down each word and sentence. I'd nearly forgotten how interesting and intense the book was. I was just beginning to get into it, up until I heard Emily's voice beginning an argument, probably given the fact that Michael and Jessica were sitting a few spaces away from me and were cuddled up, "Oh. My God. That is so gross. Are you trying to swallow his face whole?"

I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyebrows, slamming my book closed, yet saving the page. There was always something about Emily. Whenever she saw something, such as a bad outfit, she wouldn't be afraid to share her opinion. In other words, she can be a real bitch about the smallest things. I like watching her little arguments, but Emily's been getting very childish, and it's annoying. I got up and quickly left before things between Jessica and Emily got chaotic. I entered the kitchen, where Ashley was sitting on the table and Chris at the counter mixing two different drinks.

"What's going on in there?" Ashley questioned.

"Emily's little hissy fits," I answered, taking off my jacket and setting it on the chair beside Ashley along with putting my scarf on it. I looked over and saw Chris was pouring a small amount of whiskey into two red cups. "What's Chris experimenting?"

"Nothing big," he said, "It's just a small mix of some alcohol and Ginger Ale. Want some?"

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I've never tasted alcohol before. _Maybe just a small sip?_ "Sure."

"Coming right up." Chris grabbed another red cup, not too far from him, and mixed up the whiskey and soda. I couldn't help but laugh, "Sneaking alcohol from our parents, were you?"

"That's between you and me, baby sister," He said, cautiously carrying the three cups to the table Ashley and I were sitting at. I grabbed one, looking inside. Chris slightly raised his cup, "Cheers to..."

"Getting everyone back together?" Ashley shrugged with a smile.

"Okay." We "clinked" our cups together and sipped at the same time. Against my tongue, I felt a combination of bitter and sweet. It almost tasted like a spicy glass of apple cider. Ashley set her glass down and coughed a bit, "Easy on the whiskey Chris."

I did the same, but unable to speak at first because of the burning rush down my throat. "That... Is gross," I gagged, wishing that I never tasted that.

"Seriously, Leslie?" Chris swallowed his beverage, "Kids your age enjoy this."

"Well I don't like it."

"Maybe it needs more Ginger Ale?"

"Will that get the bitterness out of here?"

Chris walked back to the counter, "Did I add too much?"

"Mm-hmm," Ashley mumbled, but continued to sip her drink as my brother came back with a bottle of Ginger Ale. He poured a fair amount into my cup. I took another sip. I nodded, "That's a little better."

Ash held her glass out and Chris happily poured some into hers as well. "You're such a gentlemen," She commented.

"Oh! Well thank you," I could see that my brother was blushing. I smiled, raising an eyebrow at him, and he turned a bit more red than before. Before he could say anything else, Josh walked in, "Hey. The fire's set incase you guys want to warm your buns up."

"Ooh! Finally!" Ashley set her cup down, and she and Chris walked into the living room. I took one large gulp of my beverage and walked over to Josh. "So uh... What happened in there?"

"Emily was just..." Josh looked for words to explain the situation, "Being herself, and her and Jess got in a bit of a fight. But I split them up, Mike and Jess went over to a little cabin north of here, and I guess Matt and Em went for a stroll."

"Oh! So there was a poster saying that there was a... Santatorium around here?"

"Yeah, and it's _sanatorium_ , you said _Santa_ instead."

I felt my face getting warm, but I laughed it off, "Is it... Somewhere around here."

"It's north of here as well, but I... Wouldn't go up there."

"Oh? And why?"

"It's been abandoned for quite some time, and it just doesn't look like the place to just wander around."

"Ah. I see."

I followed Josh into the living room and walked over to the fire place. I stretched my arms out so my hands could feel the heat radiating from the flames. "Alright, peanut gallery, you know what?" Josh began and I turned my attention to him, "I've got an idea for you guys."

"We're all ears," Ashley said.

"Okay. So I'm pretty sure that somewhere in this crazy place, we used to have... a spirit board."

"A what?"

"Wow," Chris said, "You have a spirit board?"

"Yeah yeah. They're fun, right?"

"Those things are a joke man. They don't do shit."

"Explain to me where this is going," I commented.

"Hey Josh," I was startled for a moment as Sam approached the three of us, "No hot water's kinda major oversight doncha think?"

"Yeah yeah," he replied, "Just gotta fire up the boiler. It's in the basement..." Then he turned to face Chris and Ashley, "You guys see if you can find the spirit board."

"Chris, let's go find it!" Ash said, "It'll be like a scavenger hunt."

"Um... Okay... Guess so..." Chris followed her elsewhere in the house, and Josh shared a look with me, "You're not gonna go?"

"Well, I'm feeling a bit... lightheaded." It was no lie though. I don't know how much whiskey Chris put in our drinks, but it's getting to my head. "I understand. Sam, you up for a ride along?" Sam nodded, and they both headed in the downstairs. I sat alone, instead staring at the cackling fire. I closed my for a moment while massaging my forehead before standing up and heading back into the kitchen. I picked my book off of the table before heading into the living room since everything settled down.

I read the summary of the book to set the mood. But after reading maybe a page or two, I was beginning to get very tired. Maybe it was because it was too calm and silent, or maybe it was because of the "strongness" from the drink. I closed the book, not even bothering to save the page. I laid on my side and made myself comfortable. I looked at the fire for a while, and it was relaxing. Every time I blinked, I was slowly fading into my own little world. Then all I saw was nothing but black.

* * *

 *** Chris' POV***

I eyed the props scattered in the corner of the basement. There was a bunch of cool shit laying around. There were hats, costumes, masks. This is pretty cool. I picked up a dark robe, and under it was the little spirit board Josh had mentioned. As I lifted it, I heard Josh and Sam's voice coming from not too far away. I smirked and bit my bottom lip. I set the board down and quickly changed into the robe. Along with the dusty costume was a hood attached. I looked at the mask I saw earlier and put that on as well. At first I didn't think it was going to work because of the big ass computer glasses on my head. Fortunately it did, and I finished by pulling the hood over my head. Before I forgot, I picked up the board and hid it in the robe.

Josh and Sam seemed to have solved their little hot water issue, and I acted quickly by making a loud bang with one of the pipes back here. Josh and Sam seemed to be joking around with each other about the sound I made, so I did it again. This time they seemed serious. It was really tempting to laugh, but I managed to hold it in as I heard them coming close to me. Then as I saw the tip of Josh's nose, I did the old school jumpscare which was basically popping out and saying "Boo!"

Surprisingly, I scared the hell out of them. "WHAT THE HELL!" Sam shrieked as she and Josh turned to run back upstairs, and quickly shadowed them. Sam tipped over something wrapped in bubblewrap and it almost made me trip. I cautiously ran upstairs, taking off the mask and seeing that the door they were trying to open was locked. "Oh come on! Now why are all these doors locked!?" Sam screamed.

"To keep out strangers!" Josh stammered.

I waved my arms spookily and spoke in a low tone as I stopped, "Heey."

"What?"

"Heey!"

"What the hell-!"

"Boom!" I flipped the hood off, "You just got monked!"

Josh smiled and laughed, "Nice! Nice one. That was good!"

Sam obviously wasn't amused, "W-Why-Why would you do that?!"

"There was all this old movie crap down here! What, was I-was I not supposed to take advantage of the opportunity?"

"Are you... Are you serious?!" Sam turned to Josh, "Were you in on this you putz?!"

"Nope," He chuckled, "But I wish I was! That was too good!"

I opened the door easily, as Sam sighed, "I'm ready to admit that your dumb little prank may have had a slight whiff of humor to it."

"Jokemaster!" I said.

"Admit it!" Josh laughed, "You were scared! You totally pissed yourself!"

As we walked into the living room, Ashley quietly walked over to me. She chuckled a little, "What in gods name are you wearing?"

In a low tone, I spoke and waved my arm around as if I were in some ritual, and placed my hands together, "I found my true calling."

Ashley did the same, almost speaking in a whisper, "Please tell me you're going to take a vow of silence."

For a moment, I didn't understand why she was speaking so quietly. Then I looked over and saw a sleeping Leslie on the couch. The book she found was nearly slipping out of her arm, but she shifted in her sleep and pulled the book closer. "She's a heavy sleeper. I heard the rambling downstairs and she slept through it."

"Yup, that's Leslie for ya," I said, getting a strand of hair out of her face.

"She wasn't when we put the toy spider on her face," Josh chuckled a little, "You remember that, Chris?"

I smiled at that. Josh and I may have been fifteen and Leslie was fourteen. At midnight, we snuck into her room with a fake spider my mom used as a Halloween decoration, and we hovered it above Leslie's face. Her face twitched and as she opened her eyes, she immediately screamed at the top of her lungs and fell off of her bed. Then when she saw us laughing our asses off, she just started screaming, "What the hell is wrong with you!? I hate you!" This of course brought our parent's attention and I ended up having my phone taken away for two weeks. When you're still a developing teen, it feels like the end of the world to have that possession taken away. Josh received the same consequence as well, and he and I had to come up with an apology. Josh gave Leslie a box of chocolates the next day when they met each other at school.

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Anyways, did you get the... thingy?" Ashley questioned.

I stood up and took the spirit board from my robe, "Voila. Here's our one way ticket to the spirit realm..."

I set the board on the end table and Sam hissed, "You know what? No! I've just been through enough spooking for one night, okay? I see a hot bath in my crystal ball. Alright? So have fun."

I turned back to face my sister. "You think she can sleep somewhere else?"

"Sure, man," Josh said, "You can put her up in Hannah's room."

"Awesome. It's just... I don't wanna wake her, and she seemed pretty stressed about coming here. So I just want her to rest it off."

"I completely understand. We'll be waiting for you."

"'Kay."

I turned back to face Leslie, moving the book out of her hand scooping her into my arms. She still remained asleep as I carefully carried her back up the stairs and into Hannah's old bedroom. Everything that once belonged to her still remained in this room. Her bed overflowed with pillows, but it didn't seem to bother Leslie as I gently set her down. She inhaled deeply. I smiled as I quietly whispered, "Goodnight, baby sister."

* * *

 **I really should've been working on some school-related stuff. But that can wait. Right?**


	7. Chapter 7

_01:15_

As I shifted in my sleep, I felt that something was different about my resting place. As I recall correctly, the couch I passed out on didn't really have a bit of a flower scented smell to its cushion. I finally opened my eyes just enough to see exactly where I was. I saw that my head was laying on a lump of soft pillows and the rest of me was planted against a light pink comforter. With that said, the room seemed smaller, yet a tad bit fancier than the other rooms in the lodge. I blinked, and that sort of got the sleepiness out of my eyes and it allowed me to see my surroundings a bit clearer. There were "girly" accessories on the end table and in front of me was a big screen TV.

This is Hannah's room. I sat up, readjusting the pillows. Nothing had changed since I last got a sneak peak in here. Not even the mess in front of the bed was cleaned up. I swung my legs over the bed and placed my feet onto the floor. I inhaled and walked over to Hannah's desk in the far corner. Sitting there was a small box with italic initials on the front spelling out, _HW._ I opened the box carefully, and a little ballerina slowly started spinning around to the calm twinkling melody that came with it. On the back of the lid, there was a short, copper sentence spelling out, _"Happy Christmas, 2010, sis. Love Josh."_ I closed the box.

"Oh Hannah..." I sighed and walked out of the room to stretch my legs. As I left, almost everything in the lodge was lit candles. I thought it was a bit strange at first, but it did bring up a soothing scent to the entire lodge. But with that seen, there were also balloons spaced apart from each other, and painted on each one was a white arrow, almost like it wanted someone to follow them. I could only assume that either Chris, Josh, or Ashley was behind putting up these decorations. "Chris?" I called weakly, still a bit asleep. I began following the balloons down the stairs. "Christopher? Hello?"

I sighed, rubbing my eyes in attempt to make me focus more on where I was going. The balloons descended down to the lowest part of the lodge, and in the other room there was a light and a bit of some static noise was playing with it. I looked in, seeing that this room was actually a small theatre. "You guys in here?" I suddenly felt like an absolute idiot when I saw that no one was in here. I sighed again, this time with a yawn. I looked over at the screen. It was playing a clip of Samantha, alone, stripped, and in the hot water of the bathtub. What made me feel so sick about this was the fact that she wasn't aware that she had a camera looming right in front of her. Even as she got out of the bath and went to put on her towel (Which I looked away from), she still didn't seem to notice. The clip ended with her leaving the bathroom. _Who did this?_

The next clip was rather disturbing. Josh was in that, and he was... Getting his body sawed in half?! I felt my stomach twist and turn and I covered my open mouth. I don't know why I was still watching this. This was gruesome! Josh was screaming as he felt the pain touch his abdomen and cut straight through his body. Organs and blood were seeping out as Ashley's cries were heard in the back along with Chris shouting, "No! Don't do this!" The clip ended and it replayed the exact same clip from before. _This has to be some sort of joke. Or a project?_ But even with those thoughts, I wasn't really calm. That looked so real! It didn't look like an act!

Suddenly, I heard a scream echo from another door in the theatre. I recognized the owner of that died down cry. Samantha. I took off into the short hall, and damn it there were so many doors and rooms. The next one lead me to some sort of guest bedroom, and I nearly tripped over the lowered bed. I was fortunate to have made it, but I really think that Sam is the unfortunate one in this situation. Another door lead me down the stairs, and it got a bit colder as I went down. I could only assume I was heading into the basement at this point because the coldest room in any house has to be the basement.

I turned sharply and sped down into a short hall that lead into a bigger part of the basement. "Sam!" I called, "Sam! Are you-" I was suddenly blocked by a "thing" that held a gas cylinder in one hand and some sort of face mask in the other. I screamed for a short moment and halted in my tracks, falling harshly onto my back and elbows. This figure stood looking at me for a short second. He's dressed in a thick suit with black overalls and gloves. His 'gum-revealing-empty-eyed' skull mask is hiding his identity and giving him that distorted voice as he spoke, "Ah, Leslie. How nice of you to tag along."

"What the fuck...?" He chuckled as he walked over to me, and I scrambled back towards the way I came in. But this psycho grabbed my ankle and started pulling me towards the way he wants to go. "AAGGHHH! NO! LET GO OF ME!" I tried kicking at his knees or crotch, but I wasn't very successful at it. "Shit!" I panted and desperately tried grabbing onto something. I kicked again, only striking his fingers. He successfully let go of my foot, and I struggled to get back on my feet and began sprinting back the way I came in.

I could hear him behind me. _Who the fuck is this psycho?! What is he doing here!?_ I ran out of the theatre doors and closed them. Having I moment to catch my breath, I hesitated looking for the closest exit. Suddenly the theatre burst open, and this time the psycho approached me with a syringe. "Be a good girl, Leslie," he said, "I promise this won't hurt a bit."

"Stay the fuck away from me!" I cried, and I quickly ran away from him. I busted through the side door and ran out into the woods, turning left and running uphill. God, I've never ran this fast before. I didn't even know where I was going!

I just knew that I was headed North.


	8. Chapter 8

**Woo hoo! Superbowl! Let's go- Oh look! Stuff to update!**

 **UPDATE: This is the first time I'm updating from school. Lol**

 **SIDE NOTE: This chapter mostly focusses on the actual events that took place in the game (Same lines, choices [sorta], etc.)**

* * *

 _01:06_ _(Nine minutes earlier)_

 ***** **Chris' POV** *****

I was stressed out and terrified out of my mind. Apparently after screwing around with the spirit board, it was revealed that the spirit communicating with us was none other than twin sister, Hannah Washington. So there's that. She'd spelled out clues that could help us find out how her and Beth died. Ashley and I have a pretty good idea that the sisters were killed after finding some threatening note in the library of the lodge. ' _I WILL TAKE THEM AND BLEED THEM LIKE PIGS AND RIP THEIR SOFT WHITE SKIN OFF,'_ It said, ' _FUCKING SIXTEEN YEARS. SIXTEEN YEARS I WAITED FOR PRETTY LITTLE HANNAH AND BETH.'_

Hell, if that wasn't enough. Now there's some crazy psycho on the mountain with all of us, and he fucking took Josh and Ashley! There was blood on the wall and drag marks in the snow, and when I followed them to a shed, it sure enough lead to my two friends with their lives in my hands. One of them had to die so one could live. And to save Ashley...

I killed Josh.

He hung on the wall, motionless and sawed in half. Organs spilled out of his fucking body and most of his blood was sprayed on Ashley. The door that lead to them opened on its own.

"D-D-Don't look, Ash," I stammered, trying to stay calm.

"Why can't I look?!" Ashley cried, "Chris, please tell me he's okay! Please!"

She struggled to get herself down, and I felt like blowing chunks as I saw a close up at Josh's dead body. I managed to hold it together as I freed Ashley. She opened her eyes and screamed. "W-We've gotta go, Ash." I held her close, nearly having both of us stumbling as we exited the shed. But right as soon as we got out, I couldn't keep up the act anymore. I ended up bawling with her as we felt the cold winter air touch our faces.

"Chris! Ashley!" I heard a voice from ahead, and I was relieved that it wasn't that psycho. It was Matt's, Emily seemed concerned as well when both of us got close. "Blood? Blood?! Who's blood is that, Ash?! Chris what happened?"

"Josh...-"

"Josh what dude?" Matt questioned.

"He's dead!" I started stammering the situation that happened back there, "He died right in front of us man! *Hic* There's a maniac!"

"Wha-? Maniac?!"

"Oh my god," Em said, "We've gotta get out of here."

"I don't understand," Matt shook his head.

"There's a maniac!" I cried again, "He was- There was a saw- it was either him or Ash, and I-I didn't know what to do! And it cut right through him, man and- spilling out fucking everywhere-"

"WHAT?" Emily questioned, "Oh my god, Chris. What?!"

"I-I killed him...! I killed him... It was my fault, Matt!"

"No, no. This is insane. We need to get some help."

I wasn't even listening to the next thing Matt said. I was too busy trying to get those images out of my head. I felt like I was the one sort of going insane. I mean I killed my fucking friend!

"Em, we need to find the others-"

"Mike and Jess are off 'sixty-nining' each other and who knows where Sam is."

"I think she's in the lodge," I sighed, "Her... And Leslie..."

"Okay. Fine. You're right. Get everyone else together. But if there's a maniac running around here I think we need to get some help too. Not just wait around?"

"But what about-"

"Why are we still talking about this? Let's go!"

I grabbed Ashley's hand before running back to the way I came. I was muttering to myself. "What?" Ashley sniffed.

"Nothing..." I coughed uncomfortably, trying to hold myself together, "W-We're almost there."

The door I left through was still swung open as we approached the lodge and the first thing I did was call out for my baby sister, "Leslie!"

"Sam!" Ash yelled.

No response.

"Oh my god, Leslie!" I let go of Ashley's hand and sped to the stairs. Ashley followed behind, continuously calling out for Sam. I sprinted over to Hannah's room. The bed was empty, and I as I met up with Ashley, she said that Sam wasn't anywhere to be found.

* * *

 _01:23_

 *** Leslie's POV***

I had no fucking clue where I was going. At first I was running uphill while brushing my face up against twigs and branches. The next moment, I found myself rolling uncontrollably down a hill. Painful grunts escaped my mouth until I came to a complete stop. At the final landing, I ended up having a large rock collide with the outer corner of my eye. I lay in the snow for a moment and looked back, touching the painful spot on my eye and seeing a small speck of blood. That psycho wasn't following me, which sure as hell was a good thing. I ducked my forehead into my arm, breathing in a shaky breath. _What about the others?_ _Did they discover that there's someone trying to kill us?_

Suddenly, a loud, inhuman screech rang through out the forest, a sign that I should probably get my ass moving again. I crawled for a moment, a little dazed by the impact I had with the rock. Then I slowly rose to my feet. I nearly tripped as the whole area became flat and a little rocky. I coughed and looked ahead, seeing another construction built not too far from where I was standing. The large building almost looked like some political center at first, only a bit torn apart. It was surrounded by a wall, which had bits of chunks broken off of it. Even from where I stood, I could see someone climbing over the wall. I couldn't identify who it was though. _Well shit._

Now I have two options here. I could go to that place and maybe hide out and find that person. Or I could go back to the lodge and greet that psycho that could potentially kill me or... I shivered. I don't even want to think about it. But Chris... And Ashley. And Sam, and the others... I know I'm too far to go back now. I hummed an off key note, which sounded like I was holding back a scream. Though just thinking about Chris brought some relief to me. He's a tough guy, even for a nerd. Somehow, I just knew that he could survive something like this.

I finally sighed, going in the direction of that old building. It was first a long trip down a hill, before slipping halfway and riding the rest like I was preschool on a playground slide. It was a little fun, but right as soon as I got to the bottom I didn't waste any time resting. That screech didn't sound too convincing, and I didn't want to know who was doing that. Possibly the psycho, but who knows? I jogged uphill and got to one side of the wall.

At first, didn't think I could climb it due to the energy I've wasted while running like hell. But the wall was surprisingly short, and I could basically jump and pull myself up. So I leapt, and grunted as I used my arms to get myself up on the ledge. The snow began falling heavily and the wind was starting to pick up too. I looked at the front of this place. Some lights were lit up. _So someone was here._ I slid off into the other side and looked around. The windows of this old place here boarded off, and the rest of its features looked horrid and unfriendly. "Well, this must be sanatorium then," I shrugged.

I walked up to the entrance. Nailed on one of the boarded windows was a sign that said, _'Condemned'._ I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, "Alright..." Then I tried the door, which swung open too quickly and loudly. I quickly came in and hid in the shadows, checking to see if the guy I saw earlier was anywhere in sight. He may not be the psycho, but I can't be too sure right now. He didn't seem that he was anywhere at the moment. So I walked at my own pace and looked around. Almost every door was blocked by chunks of stone from the sanatorium. Only one open door was ahead, which I guess was the only choice I had. But there also the administration room.

Before I could walk straight ahead to the open door, I could hear snarling coming from that room. I stopped, backing up just a little bit. Then peaking from that door was a creature with white fur and golden, glowing eyes. "You've got to be kidding..." I hissed. First psychos... Now a wolf... What's next, a crazy wolf man? The long-furred creature barked and charged at me, and I ran into the administration section. It probably wasn't the best idea ever because now it for sure wants to gnaw off my limbs! Another pump of adrenaline was left over, and I used it up as ran into any open room that was available.

I stumbled down the stairs, landing on my knees too hard. I now not only heard the dog's footsteps, but someone else's as well. I scrambled back as I saw the wolf's shadow. I whimpered a little when I saw its eyes gaze down at me. My back hit a the wall behind me and the beast came closer and closer, sniffing at me. It must think that my soft flesh will go good with my blood. I squeezed my eyes closed, waiting for the hound's teeth to skin into my skin as I felt its nose sniff my foot. Only did I open my eyes to a familiar, and confused voice say my name.

* * *

 **Yay! The Broncos won! They just booed at Kubiak XD (I don't know why I find it funny)**

 **I probably might do some revising to this chapter later on**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi readers. I'm sorry for leaving you waiting for a month. February and March have been extremely stressful and I've been really down in the dumps lately as well. I've got a lot of weight on my shoulders and I'm going to try to get this chapter just right. If it's not to your satisfaction, I apologize. I just want to release some of the tense feelings I have right now :( Anyways, here it is.**

* * *

 _01:35_

My eyes stayed staring at the figure over on the top of the cement-blocked steps. The white wolf at my feet stopped sniffing me, whimpering and falling back to the person. Sudden relief flowed through my body when I saw that the stranger was no stranger at all. It was Michael-fucking-Munroe. He cautiously stepped down the steps as I shakily struggled to my feet, exhaling nearly out of breath, "Leslie."

"Mike, oh my god," I ended up falling into his arms as soon as I took one step towards him, still in shock with the shit that's been happening. We've never hugged each other so tightly (Well, we really never hugged up until now), and I've never been so happy to see this idiot! I ignored the fact that the navy green coat he was wearing didn't have his scent on it and he was filthy and sweaty. "Leslie," He pulled away, "Are you okay?"

"I-I think so," I used one arm to support myself, and then I gazed down at his hand, seeing that his pinky and ring finger were wrapped in a bloodied bandage, and both fingers appeared to be shortened as well. I covered my mouth, stomach twisting, "Oh my God, Mike your fingers! What the hell happened to your fingers!?"

I reached out and Mike slightly pulled away, "Got caught in a bear trap and heard something coming, so y'know I had to act fast."

"Jesus, Mike. What is happening right now? We come up here to have a good time and all of a sudden there's some killer up here with us..." I stop right there, inhaling to catch my breath and keep it together. Mike didn't seem one bit surprised, but he too seemed to be shaken up as he spoke, "I know. He fucking killed Jessica!"

I choked, "J-Jess is dead?!"

"Her jaw was... torn apart. Gone! He's in here, Lee. I'll fucking kill him!"

I was even more sickened and I felt a bit of a headache coming to me, "Mike, no... N-No. Mike, that psycho is at the lodge! He sawed Josh in half!"

"What-!"

"He's at the lodge and I saw him! He tried to... Knock me out or something! I dunno- He had this gas mask and then a needle and I dunno what he was going to do and Sam was there too. But I dunno where she is-"

"Leslie!" Mike put both of his hands on my shoulders, and I was stuck in the middle of my breath. He ducked his head, breathing in. The white wolf nudged my hand, making my palm rest on its head. "It's okay..." He finally sighed.

"Mike, everything..." I was even more paranoid, "Everything obviously is not okay-"

"Just listen to me. If that maniac is at the lodge, then we've got to get back there. We'll get the others. And then we'll get the fuck off this mountain. Okay?"

"Okay..." I tried simmering my heart rate, and I gently stroked the wolf's fuzzy head to calm me down even more.

"Alright," Mike patted my shoulder once, "Let's get outta here."

He lead the way back upstairs, the wolf following behind. When we passed through the chapel doors the skinny-furred best came through, it laid down in a dark corner not too far from us. I looked around in the other area of the Sanatorium we were now in. It looked more like a hideout. There were cozy-looking chairs along with a couch and in front of it was a broken TV that sat on top of some sort of desk. "This sort of looks new," I murmured.

"Huh?" Mike turned his head to face me.

"The guy you said came in here. You think this is his little den?"

"Possible... But I haven't seen him, and I'd rather not wait for him to show up."

Mike walked over to another part of this large room, starting to reach his arm through something that appeared to be fenced. "What're you doing?" I walked over as well, now seeing that on the other side of the this fenced up wall was a revolver resting on a wooden plank along with some concrete blocks. "Let me try," Mike let me through so I could put my arm in the open hole of the fence. "Try pulling the bricks," Mike advised.

"You mean this one?" I wrapped my fingers around the nearest brick, and he nodded. I pulled and quickly let go as the plank clattered and the revolver slide down to my fingertips. I cautiously grabbed it and immediately handed it to Mike, not trusting myself considering that I'm not so good with a firearm. Both moved towards the other corner of the room, where a sign above the door read, _Exit._ But my relief was torn away when we saw a lock clipped around the handle. Mike backed me up a bit, and I covered my ears when I saw his arm aim the revolver at the lock. _Kl-BANG!_ It surprisingly wasn't that loud as the door swung open, and Mike lead on into the dark.

The wind from outside was strong and blew harshly against the building. It sent shivers down my spine as we descended down into a darker place. _I thought it said 'Exit' not 'Basement'..._ It now seemed that we were in a sewer because of the puddles and leaks dripping from the wall and ceiling. Before we knew it, we came across another locked door. "Same thing?" I asked.

"Same thing," Mike nodded and knocked over a barrel for more room. He covered his eyes with his arm, I guess to prevent some sort of damage and pulled the trigger. Sparks flew as it hit the lock, and it set fire to the liquid coming out of the barrel he knocked over. Mike opened the door, now seeing that the fire began to spread on more of the barrels, which I now realized were flammable.

"Shit... Leslie move! Move-!"

Just as we started to run back, the barrels ignited and blew up, having the force lift us off our feet and harshly onto the ground. I slightly slid across, a faint ring began to play in my ears. I vision turned foggy, and my body's strength was all taken out. Just like that, the light in my eyes was gone as well.

* * *

 **I really didn't like Jessica anyway. But thanks for bearing with me. I'll try to update ASAP ^u^**


	10. Chapter 10

_02:32_

 ***** **Ashley's POV** *****

This is fucking crazy; fucking insane. There's a maniac, Josh is dead, Sam and Leslie are missing and we haven't found them anywhere in the logde, and now I think I'm loosing my head here. I kept seeing a ghost. A fucking ghost that just keeps walking into walls! I feel like Chris is thinking that I've lost my marbles as well. But... No! It was there! I saw it with my own eyes! It was pale as snow, it had some sort of dirtied, sleeveless gown, and its hair was long and dark as well. I couldn't help but think that this might be Hannah, and where she was walking was leading us to where her killer was. Or maybe even Sam. Or Leslie? God, I hope they're okay.

But there's that. A ghost leads us downstairs into a part of a house we didn't know existed, and now I'm finding myself staring at seven pictures. There's Sam, Mike, Chris, myself, Emily, Josh, and Leslie. Though the thing that struck me the most was the fact that Emily and Leslie had white Xs marked over their eyes. _Oh God... Could that mean they're dead?_

Chris shined his flashlight at the pictures, "W-What is this, like a fucking hit list?" I bit my lip hard as his light stayed shined on Leslie's. He let out a tense sigh and I could see his grip on the flashlight was tightening.

"Chris-" I laid a hand on his shoulder, but he backed away.

"It's fine. I'm alright."

"But-"

"Leslie... She's not... She's not dead. If she was, I'll just know it."

I smirked for a short second before frowning again. After all they were brother and sister. But just the fact that her and Emily's eyes were scratched out brought some disbelief to me. They could actually be dead. _Shut it, Ashley. It's fine._ I shined my own flashlight away from he pictures and shined it over at a wooden door that was half-open. I walked over, Chris quickly following me.

Cautiously, I swung it open and in the middle of the room was a projector with no film showing on the wall. I curiously flipped the switch on the projector, and that made a sound which startled me, making a surprised noise escape my mouth. I felt Chris' hand on my back, calming me down as we heard some dialogue coming from the film that began rolling. Soon, it began to show some familiar imagery. I felt my stomach sink, "Oh god... Chris, it's from last year..."

It showed me, snickering in my hiding spot as the others did the same as well. Jessica and Emily hid under the bed and Matt was in the closet filming everything. Mike stood out in the open, quieting us down as we heard footsteps approach outside his room. Chris, Beth, Sam, Leslie, and Josh were not involved in this prank, and I'm actually glad they weren't. "Uh... This is a little uncomfortable..." Chris said. _Damn right it is._ Instead of saying that, I spoke in honesty, "I've never seen this video... She's just so..." Hannah came into the room with a candle lit, a little bit of bliss added on her expression.

"So... what?" Chris questioned.

"She's so excited... And alive..."

"She has no idea."

Hannah began stripping her shirt off in front of Mike, and we both could hear more snickers coming from under the bed, Jessica whispering loudly, _"Oh my god! She's taking her shirt off!"_

I blinded myself from seeing the explicit content, but Chris kept his eyes on it, "Woah... I forgot you were such a... Willful participant."

I made a bit of a hissing noise, almost sounding like I was going to cry before answering, "T-This is horrible. I couldn't feel worse."

At the moment I finished, we all jumped out from our hiding spots, and I couldn't forget the humiliation on Hannah's face. Then she looked as if she were going to cry. We all were saying it was just a prank. "It looks like you were enjoying yourself," Chris commented.

"That's the worst part, isn't it?" I said, "We were just playing a joke. It was supposed to be funny."

"...Yeah..."

"I never want to see this video again."

I sighed tensely as the film ended with a zoom in of Hannah's beautiful face. The last smile we'd ever see before she just disappeared along with her twin sister. Though there was suddenly a last minute scene with an ear-assaulting scream along with some horrific face glitching out as well. I jumped and screamed as well. _I'm done... I'm so over this._ I cried and spoke in a bit of whiny tone, "What is going on?!"

"Ash-Ash, slow down, okay?"

"I can't handle this - Ghosts and these videos and everything flying around-"

"Calm down. Just listen to me for a second-"

"What? Calm down? Why should I calm down, Chris?! I'm freaking out right now!"

"This has got to be someone messing with us!"

"What?!"

"Think about it - Ghosts don't hook up video cameras. They don't play games."

"Then who would set this up? Seriously? I'm asking."

"I-I don't know. Maybe the same person who tied you up and killed Josh."

I nodded, still a bit in shock, "Oh... Right..."

"The same person who might have Sam. Or Leslie. Right now."

"Maybe you're right..."

"I wish I wasn't."

* * *

 _02:52_

 *** Mike's POV***

I groaned, turning over to lie on my back as I put my hand over my eyes. The ringing in my ears faded away, and I sat up. I sighed, "Well, that's done and over with..." I look over, seeing Leslie lying on her side, motionless and back faced towards me. "Leslie...?" I quickly crawl over to her, turning her over so she could lie on her back. She didn't move. She wasn't even breathing.

"Oh shit." I moved her arm off of her torso, breathing in and out and trying to stay calm. "Okay... Okay c'mon, Lee..." I connected my lips with her and exhaled a mouth full of air into her lungs. Immediately disconnecting to press both of my palms in the middle of her chest. I pushed rapidly, using my upper body strength. All that came out of Leslie's mouth were short exhales, but she wasn't regaining consciousness. I became a bit more anxious after repeating this process five times. I could've sworn that I felt tears building up in my eyes. "C'mon, Leslie," I exhaled after getting my mouth off of hers. I pressed harder this time onto her chest.

Then I hear a gasp and cough. Leslie's eyes weren't open, but the muscles in her body were moving again. I sat her up, and held her tightly against my chest, relieved that this wasn't her final round. "Are we good to go...?" She rasped.

"Let's uh... Take a breather for a minute," I said.

"Okay... Ugh... I feel dizzy..."

"Just breathe, Lee."

Both of us were breathing heavily, once in a while Leslie would cough weakly. Soon, her breathing became slow and calm. Same with mine as well. Leslie cleared her throat, "Let's go... There's still that psycho trying to kill us."

I rocked her a bit before helping her up. She heavily leaned against me, I guess due that she was still a bit drowsy in the head. "I gotcha," I reassured. I saw her gaze up and smile weakly. Her legs shook a bit too and her fingers dug into my shoulder. I looped my arm around her waist. Helping her walk through the burnt and cold hallway. Leslie would sometimes miss a step and would nearly fall to her knees again, and I'd still be there to hold her back up. I'd ask her if she was okay often as we walked this long corridor of puddles and wet walls.

Leslie's grip on my shoulders loosened, and each step she took became steady. Though I still held onto her incase. Soon though, it got warmer and warmer for some reason. Not terribly hot or anything. But it was slightly warmer. The puddles and moist features on the wall disappeared as we enter a completely different part of the Sanatorium or something. There were shelves of completely random junk. Leslie pulled away from me to go look at something that was in a small, open box.

"Hey," she spoke softly, "This belonged to Beth." Leslie held up a small, hand sewn doll and turned it around so I could see the child-like-handwritten name, _Bethany Washington._

"What's her little doll and this other stuff doing down in the Sanatorium?" I asked.

"That... Or we might be back at the lodge."

I looked back at the way we came, tucking my hands in navy green jacket, and quickly feeling something cold and smooth. I pulled the small abject out, seeing that I've been carrying a lighter. "This sure is one big mountain." I had a moment to look over some of the objects resting in boxes or the shelves, some that were toys or other household decorations.

Suddenly Leslie gasped slightly. "Mike," she whispered, and I walked over, "There's someone over there."

I saw what her finger was pointing at. Through a barred off vent, I saw a pair of tied ankles. I quickly walked over, and got a better look. Those dirtied feet and legs belonged to a girl sitting unconscious in a swivel chair. She began to regain it, looking around and already beginning to get scared. "Oh my god, that's Sam," Leslie whispers.

"Holy shit..." I get a bit closer, "Sam... Sam! Wake up!"

"Mike, is that you!?" Sam looks at me, speaking sort of loudly.

"Sshh!"

"What?"

"Get over here!"

She awkwardly swiveled her way over here, and I could see that she was only in a bath towel. She had her back faced towards me, and I began to burn off the zip ties that restrained her wrists. She pulled them apart, exclaiming a bit. "Ow..." She rubbed her wrists and I handed her the lighter to let her burn off the ties holding her ankles together. Leslie nudges in beside me and slips her hand through the bars, "Sam..."

Sam moves the chair away and holds onto her hand, "Thank god you guys found me."

"It's okay," I whisper, "You're okay."

"W-Where's Jessica? She's not with you?"

I resisted clenching my teeth and fists in rage, feeling guilt and sorrow, "Jessica is dead..."

"What?!"

"He killed her, Sam... There's some maniac on the mountain who is trying to kill us; All of us. And I swear to god, when everyone is safe and accounted for, I am gonna hunt that fucker down and rip his nuts off one at a goddamn time."

Sam let go of Leslie's hand, "Listen, this guy who you're talking about... He attacked me. he showed me these videos, too, and one of them showed Josh being killed-"

"I saw that..." I hear Leslie whimper, "What the fuck is going on here...?"

I break away from their conversation to see that there was a wooden door beside us. I tried opening it, but it wasn't budging, "Sam. There's a door over here, and it won't open. Can you unlock it from your side?"

Sam nodded, standing up and I saw that her knees were bruised and bloodied. She easily went out from a an unlocked door in her room, grabbing a pink back pack off the door knob. Leslie sighed, almost whimpering, "I hope everyone else is alright..."

I lay a hand on her shoulder, "They are, Lee, and I promise all will go well after this."

She looks up, smiling a bit, "Didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

I laugh a bit, "You did. But you've already let me get away with it."

Suddenly, we're startled by Sam bursting through the door. Taking one good look at Leslie and I, "Jeez, you guys look like hell."

She walks past us, and we just stare as she went behind a shelf. "Nice to see you too," I say.

We look over to see that Sam is setting her flashlight down along with her backpack. "What are you doing?"

Sam smiles a bit, "Well actually, the towel didn't turn out to be the best outfit for fighting off killer maniacs, you know?" Leslie and I share a look before looking back at her, and she chuckles a bit, "Do you mind, guys?"

"Oh! Uh... Right," I say, turning around, "My bad."

Leslie turns around as well, face a bit red. I hear her changing behind me, and I so badly just want to get a glance at her. But feel Leslie's elbow sharply shove me, and I look at her, mouthing, "What?" Leslie only smiled, laughing quietly.

"Okay, done," Sam said, "Let's put this thing to bed," and I turned around to see she was now changed into red-hooded jacket, grey yoga pants, and sneakers.

"Amen to that," Leslie said, and she was suddenly interrupted when we all hear the sounds of screaming and crying.


	11. Chapter 11

_03:11_

 ***** **Chris' POV** *****

"Ugh... My fuckin' head..." I slowly came to my senses, feeling a bit drowsy inside the head. But I came to realize that I was slumped in a chair, and in front of me was a table with a hand gun. On the other side was an unconcious Ashley. Then I just now noticed that only one of my wrists were tied to the chair and Ash's only had both of hers tightly restrained.

"Shit..." Once again, panic started to take control of me, "Oh crap... Ash...? Ash?!"

Ashley moaned a bit before looking up at me, and I was taken back by her appearance a bit, "Oh Jesus, Ash. What did he do to you?"

"I think he hit me..." She whined, partly in pain from the fresh black eye she received, probably from the psycho.

"Shit. I'm gonna murder his fucking face off."

Ashley started crying again, looking at her restrained wrists, "What is this?"

"This... This is the guy who killed Josh." I struggled with my one restraint as she continued to sob, and I looked around to see if I could find that murdering piece of shit.

"Oh my god, Chris, we're gonna die!" Ash sobbed, "I don't think I'm ready to die!"

"No one is going to die," I reassured her as gently as I could.

"Oh, I wish I could tell you. It just isn't fair!"

"What? Tell me what, Ash?

"It's too late... Chris, what's the point...? We're always talking around it, a-and now... I mean, we've wasted everything!"

"Ashley, none of it was wasted..."

Ashley stopped crying and looked at me, "What do you mean?"

"Every second that I spent with you... Was the only thing I ever wanted to do with my time..."

"What're you saying, Chris?"

I sighed, "I'm sorry... I should've told you how I felt... Ashley, I swear, when we get out of this-"

I was interrupted by some sort of "generator sound" filling the silence, and we looked up to see spinning saws above our heads. "Ashley, I'll get you out of this! I won't let you die!" I tried to make Ashley remain calm, but I don't think she heard me. But still. _I_ _won't let her die!_

That psycho's distorted voice came back, and I clenched my fists as he said in his sweet, threatening tone, "Hello there, my special little subjects."

"I'm scared, Chris..." Ashley cried.

"Don't be scared..." I comforted.

"Oh you should be, Ash," the psycho taunted, "Because here's the twist: Chris has made one fatal choice already today. And now he must make another... Chris, you can take that gun in front of you and shoot Ashley, or you can shoot yourself. Whoever is left, can live. The choice is yours."

I immediately took the handgun and shot up at saw blades, but they just kept spinning. The psycho's maniacal chuckle sent shivers down my spine, "Don't be so silly, Chris."

I shook my head, swallowing back a whimper as I pointed the barrel up my chin. "Wait, Chris! Stop!" Ashley began, "Don't do it, Chris. It should be me! You chose to save me before! Let choose this time; let me choose to save you! Chris, please!"

I shook my head, pushing the tip harder into my neck. She started screaming and crying at me to stop, but I kept the gun where it was. My finger shook as it went on the trigger, and continued to quiver as I slowly began to squeeze it.

"CHRIS, NO!"

 _BANG!_

* * *

 _03:14_

 *** Leslie's POV***

"Did you guys hear that?" I inquired. Coming from the room across from us, I could hear faint cries and a bit of screaming.

"Is that... Crying?" Mike cautiously stepped towards the door where the cries rose from and Sam shined the flashlight on it. I tried to get open until I realized it didn't have a door knob. I tried using some of my arm strength to see if I could get through, and it slightly tipped open, but not all the way. Mike came next to me, nodding as if he were saying, "I'm ready when you're ready."

Then forcefully, we pushed the door open into another large room. And in the middle of it, were two people tied to a chair, one on each side of a small table. My eyes widened when recognized them as Chris and Ashley. "Chris-!"

But I was held back by Mike and Sam when we saw the maniac, approaching the two. "No! No no no! Get away!" Ashley screamed at him. I now just saw that Chris was holding a handgun, and when he tried to shooting at the masked murderer, no signs of blood came spewing out from his back. He only shrugged and sighed in amusement, "Oh Chris... Oh Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris."

 _What the fuck?_ Sam, Mike and I exchanged looks with each other; half in confusion and another in fear. "You've heard of blanks before," The psycho continued, "I mean really?" He reached both of his hands up and grabbed hold of his mask, pulling it off and revealing that the person behind all this was...

Joshua Washington?

I nearly fainted, but saved myself by walking quickly towards to Chris, who in a normal tone questioned, "J-Josh?" Josh broke out into a fit of laughter while we all processed this. _No no no... This can't be right. Josh is dead! His body is split into two!_

 _What?!_

I shook my head to snap myself out of this as I helped Chris with his restraints, and Josh continued to laugh, "Oh, very good! Every one of you! Get my name! And after all you've been through! Good! Good-good-good-good. I mean how does that feel? Right? How does it feel? Do you enjoy feeling terrorized?"

 _No._

"Humiliated?"

 _No._

"I mean panicked?"

 _No! What is with this guy?_

"All those emotions my sisters got to feel one year ago!" Josh continued, and I saw that same disturbed look in his eyes, "Only guess what? They didn't get to laugh it off! No! Nope! No no no! They're gone!"

"I don't know if you've noticed this, Josh, but none of us are laughing," Mike shrugged, sounding pissed off about all this. Chris and I had finally gotten his restraint untied and immediately he stood up and hugged me. I held him so tightly, glad that he was okay.

"Oh come on, why the long faces?" Josh inquired, "It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right?"

"Not in a way with you trying to kill us!" I snapped, nearly breaking away from my brother's arms.

"And race they did. I mean, everyone of you, just pitter-pat, pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle! I mean, no detail too small! No opportunity missed! It was such a delight to play the puppet master to all of your Pavlovian panic! And all that gore? There was gore galore! Fake bodies... I mean... God that shit was expensive! And no retakes! Nope! Only double takes! You should've seen your faces! Hook line and sinker! For every little stinker!"

"Josh is definitely off his meds," Chris muttered.

"Josh," I broke away from him so I could face this psychopath, "What are you talking about?! Jessica is DEAD!"

Ashley, Chris, and Sam looked at me with shock written on their faces, and I could see a muscle twitch in Mike's jaw.

Josh tilted his head, confused, "What?"

"Did you hear her?" Mike stepped forward, "Jessica is fucking dead! And you are going to FUCKING PAY YOU DICK!"

In a matter of seconds, Josh went from standing to being punched pretty hard to the ground by Mike, enough to weaken him from doing anything else. I never flinched at the sight of blood flying from his nose as Mike's fist collided with it. None of us did, in fact. I sighed, leaning my head into Chris' shoulder, thankfull that it was all over.

* * *

 _03:41_

Just like Josh did with us, we restrained him, tying his hands behind his back and dragging him across the lodge grounds. Mike held him gun point, while Chris made sure he wasn't going to do something crazy. For me, I just wanted to make sure that nothing else happened to the both of them while they were out here. Sam and Ashley were back at the lodge to get prevent Ashley's nasty black eye from getting more swollen.

"Guys, c'mon this is crazy, you know?" Josh chuckled nervously.

"Shut up," Mike pushed him forward.

Chris stepped forward, "Why'd you hit her man? Why'd you have to fucking hit her!?" I widened my eyes when Chris threw his first into Josh's eye, who weakly asked, "What're you talking about?"

"You punched Ashley you piece of shit!" _Josh hit Ashley in the face? God damn..._

Josh stood up, still a bit startled, "I got s-so mad."

"Dude, you don't hit a girl. Y-You just don't."

"Chris... Bro... I-"

"And I'm not your 'bro'."

Mike kept shoving him, and I now saw we were heading towards a shed. "Michael, I'm sorry, man," Josh complained, "I can't tell you how sorry I am that something happened to Jessica, but I swear! I swear to you I have no idea what happened to her!" Chris and I looked at each other, and he only shook his head turning back to his "bro", "Josh? Be honest with me. Do you really expect us to trust you for a single goddamned second after all the shit you put us through?"

Josh cackled and spoke in a slurred tone, "Can't we all just get along?"

Mike's grip on Josh's wrists and restraints tightened, just by hearing him cry out in pain as Mike said through his teeth, "We're not dicking around." As we got in the shed, Josh kept saying more ridiculous things. His words became more slurred as Chris and Mike tied him to a small stool. As they finished they approached me and we huddled as if we were planning something out for some sort of football play. But Mike spoke to Chris, "What... In god's name is he talking about?"

I looked at Josh, and he was rambling on about plastic ties or something. "I dunno," Chris said, "It's hard to watch."

"He ever say this kind of shit before?"

"No, I never seen him like this..."

After chuckling, Josh turned his attention to Mike, "Hey Mike. Mikey? Mike? Mike!"

"What?" Mike growled a bit.

"What happened to Jess, Mike?"

"Are you serious, Josh?" I hissed, "You know what happened!"

"Hey, I was addressing my question to Mike. Okay, bitch?"

"Hey!" Chris snapped, stepping toward in a threatening way, "Don't ever talk to my sister like that, you asshat!"

"Easy, Christopher... And no... No, I don't... I got a problem, Mike... I don't remember killing Jess..."

"Christ..."

"I mean like, I feel I would remember killing her, you know? She's so soft... And she's probably got like a really tight bod..."

Mike scowled and aimed the handgun at him, "Shut your fucking mouth!"

Then I'm suddenly surprised when I see Chris hitting Mike's shooting arm with the stick he's been holding since we got to the shed. I blinked, "Chris, what the hell was that?"

"Yeah, seriously?" Mike shrugged.

"What?" Chris questioned.

"Did you think I was going to shoot him?"

"I-I dunno."

"Come on, Chris, you know me better than that!"

"Ah... Yeah. Well, just, next time give me a heads up, alright?"

I groaned in annoyance before Josh started going on with his little innocent words, "Oh, you poor little piggies. You can't even get your good cop bad cop routine to work. Leave it to the pros, bros!"

I looked at him. _Yep, he's lost it..._

Mike sighed, "Why don't you guys go back to the lodge and make sure Sam and Ash are alright. I'll stay here with this lunatic until morning."

"Ooh! Sleepover! Can we order pizza?"

Chris took one good look at him before turning over to Mike with concern, "You sure you're okay...?"

"They'll want to know everything's fine back there."

"Yeah, you're right. See you in the morning." Chris dropped the stick and I followed him out. As we turned the corner I looked at him, feeling really emotional all of a sudden. He looked at me when he heard me sniff, "Everything okay?"

I didn't respond though. I just wrapped my arms around him, surprising him. "Leslie-"

"Shut up," I whimpered, "I just... I just needed a hug I guess..."

Chris returned the hug, "Everything's okay now, baby sis. It's all over now..."


	12. Chapter 12

_04:28_

 *** Leslie's POV***

"How's your eye, Ash?" I looked over and saw Chris planting a wet rag against Ashley's fresh black eye. She flinched slightly at the touch, but smiled weakly as well, "It'll take some time to get better. But y'now... It's not the end of the world." I smiled and laid back into the couch, relaxing muscles as they grew a bit sore as well. I heard Sam sighing in frustration, and I looked over to see she was holding her phone, "Yeah, guys? I'm not getting anything."

"Probably should've mentioned that Josh didn't have cell towers installed up here," Chris commented tensely. I frowned a bit at his tone. But couldn't help but sit up straight to quickly when we all heard a screech coming not too far from here. It sounded like the screech I heard earlier when running for dear life through the forest. For a minute, maybe two, we remained quiet, exchanging concerned looks. Chris finally broke the silence, "G-Guys, it's probably just another one of Josh's booby traps having a delayed reaction."

"God, I hope it is," I murmured, and sat up again at the sound of the door quickly opening and closing. Mike ran into the living room panting, "Hey...! You guys alright?"

"Yeah-" Chris was interrupted again, this time by a light tapping sound at the side door. We all looked over. "Who the fuck can that be?" Mike whispered.

"Jess?"

Mike glared at Chris, "It's not Jess."

"Sorry man, but who is it?"

"Matt and Emily?" I suggested.

"Well I don't know... We should... Check it out."

Chris poked Mike's shoulder, "I got your back."

"Good." Mike raised the gun he had and Chris followed him towards the side door. Sam and I stood closely as we observed to see who was outside. "It can't be Josh, can it?" She whispered.

I shook my head, "I hope not... Unless he wasn't the only maniac up here." Chris and Mike were nodding and speaking to each other, then I saw my brother grab the door handle. He twisted his wrist slowly until we all heard a small click in the door.

Suddenly before he could open it, the door was kicked open, sending Chris flying towards the ground in a heartbeat, and inviting himself in was a man dressed in thick clothes and carrying a old flamethrower in his hand. I ran out for the two boys, as my instincts told me to do so. The stranger disarmed Mike's gun as Chris got up and backed away from this man. "Take it easy, grandpa," Mike said, shaking his shooting hand.

"Okay, everybody just calm down," The old man began, motioning Chris and Mike to move back into the living room, "Go on move! Let me say what I came to say."

The boys did so hesitantly. I moved backwards only to stumbled and fall back harshly onto my ass. I yelped a bit, but quickly got back up to my feet as the stranger came to say what he wanted to say, "I'm here to tell you what you're up against on this mountain. You should never have returned." He dropped his little heavy bag down, "I don't know why you did after what happened last year."

"You mean Hannah and Beth?" Ashley stood up. My head shot up, flashing back to that memory. When I followed those footsteps only to see that they lead to a cliff. Standing at the cliff was a man...

Dressed almost exactly like this one.

"Yeah how could you know without being involved-"

"Or responsible-?!"

"You hold onto your horses," he hissed, "I don't take too kindly to you kids coming on my mountain-"

"So you didn't take too kindly to Hannah and Beth when they were out there on their own?!" I raised my voice, getting anxious and having a sickening feeling build up in my stomach.

"Leslie," Chris put his hands on my shoulders as if to hold me back, "Y-You're getting a little paranoid right now-"

"And it's your mountain?" Mike chuckled, speaking as if he didn't hear my outburst, "I'm sure the Washingtons would be very surprised to hear that."

"Hehheh," The stranger laughed, "Well this mountain don't belong to me, it's true. But it don't belong to the Washingtons. This mountain belongs to the Wendigo."

"The what?" I raised my eyebrow.

"What's he talking about?" Sam inquired.

"The hell's a Wendigo?" Mike shrugged. We looked at the stranger, waiting for an explanation. "Now I'm only going to tell you this once," he began, "It doesn't matter to me if you believe it or not. I got reasons I want to... Get off my chest..."

"S-See look!" I spoke again, loudly, "He's guilty as shit! Guilty of something-"

"Settle down, baby sis," Chris made me sit down on the couch.

"There is a curse," The stranger said, "That dwells in these mountains. Should any man or woman resort to cannibalism in these woods, the spirit of the Wendigo shall be unleashed."

We all looked at each other. I refused to believe this nonsense, but everything he said sounded so true! I remembered the inhuman shrieks. Maybe they did belong to the "Wendigo".

"You're going to need to find somewhere safe," The stranger finally finished.

"The basement might be fine," Sam suggested, a mix of fear in her voice.

"Okay. Get down there, now. All of you. And wait."

"What? Why? For how long?"

Mike looked up, "Guys... I ran off and left Josh when I heard screaming."

"Where did you leave him?"

"In the shed..."

"Your friend will already be dead."

"Again?" I scoffed, remembering that fake video of him getting sawed in half.

"No," Chris stood up, No he can't be..."

"Chris-"

"No! We were just with him!"

"A lot can happen too quickly on this mountain," the old man said.

"No. I'm gonna go get him."

"You can't go out there, Chris!" Ashley commented.

"I'm supposed to be his best friend and I let him down."

"No... He let you down, Chris. He let all of us down."

"I don't care. I'm going to go get him."

"Then I'll go with you," I stood up.

"I've only got one gun for one of you kids," The stranger interrupted, "One of you unarmed will be a quick death for you."

"Woah, man. First of all, you're not coming," Chris turned back to me, "And second, Leslie are you nuts!?"

"Yes."

"Well you're not going anywhere-"

"Then you can't go anywhere without those big glasses."

"What-?" He was interrupted by me reaching for his computer glasses and tossing them across the room. "Leslie, I'm gonna... Ugh...!"

I walked close to the stranger and everyone looked at me with concern while Ashley helped Chris find his glasses. That really didn't go the way I planned. Chris is my brother, and I wanted to make sure that nothingelse happened to him tonight. Now it's just me and 'grandpa'. The old man looked at me, muttering, "You don't seem to understand the magnitude of the situation." He turned back to the others, "The rest of you get down to the basement. Be safe. Don't go outside until we're back."

I looked over to see that Chris had his glasses on, and one side was cracked, "God dammit. You're gonna pay for these, baby sis. I really can't see shit."

I simply ignored him, turning back to the stranger, "So... We're gonna get Josh now?"

"No," he said, "I'm going to get Josh. You're going to help me. Do you understand?"

"Er... Yeah. Sure..."

"You need to follow me. And do everything I tell you."

We left the others behind, but it wasn't long until we heard running footsteps through the hallway, "Leslie! Leslie!" I turn around, seeing my brother with my jacket and scarf in his hand. I slipped into the jacket, and Chris talks as he starts wrapping my scarf gently around my neck, "Look. You... You and Josh... Get back here safely. Not a scratch on you, got it?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "I got it." The stranger tapped my shoulder, handing me a rifle. He pointed at the tip, "This is the end you point towards the thing you want to kill."

"Okay..." I nodded nervously, turning back to face Chris, "I'll see you soon." I followed the old man out into the snow storm. When the door shut, I spoke a bit in a assertive tone, "Okay, 'grandpa'. You seem to be quite the expert on everything on this mountain. So how do you know about what happened last year? What were you doing on the cliff?"

"Cliff?"

"Yeah. I saw you, ya know. Hannah and Beth's footprints lead right to you."

"Well I'll have you know they were the first ones there before I was. The smaller one held the big one, and she was stuck in the choice of letting go or dropping her sister."

I paused, "You... Tried to save them?"

"If I was lucky enough."

"Then, what happened?"

"There wasn't enough time. The root she held onto couldn't hold their weight and they ended up falling to their deaths."

I stayed silent, suddenly feeling a bit of survivor's guilt. I sort of knew they couldn't have survived for a year. But when the rangers and police kept looking around, I had a bit of hope that they were alive. But I didn't know! I finally changed the subject, "Okay... What more can you tell me about the 'Wendigo'?"

"You just be careful. You follow my lead."

"How many bullets will it take to shoot this thing dead?"

"Well, you'd be shooting for a long time."

"It's immortal then?!"

"No... But it'll slow it down."

"Then how do you kill it?"

"They don't like fire."

"Fire, okay. That explains the flamethrower."

"They fear it, and it can kill them if you have to... See their skin is like... It's like tough armor, unless you burn it off first."

"Ew..."

We had continued to make our way towards the shed, and this entire time I looked up and down through the trees. That Wendigo could be up in those shadows. Maybe it is, and it's just watching. I hoped not. I didn't want to shoot anything tonight. If I miss that monster out there, it could mean my own funeral. If of course my body were to make it down the mountain. I cleared my throat, looking ahead again, seeing that we were at the shed. But I didn't hear Josh's rambling or even sense that he was there. That was when I saw that the stool he was sitting on was empty and turned on its side. Only two legs remained while the rest were torn off.

"N-No!" I stammered, "He was just here. He was-! Josh!"

"Shh! Quiet!" The stranger hissed, "We gotta go. Right now."

"He couldn't have gotten that far though! He could still be out there!"

"Ha! First, the Wendigo, he'll render you immobile. And then he strips the skin off of your entire body, piece by piece. He keeps you alive and aware and feasts on your organs, one piece at a time."

I shook my head. _Chris sure might be more than disappointed._ "Back to the lodge, then?"

"Let's go now, it might still be near."

I looked back at the rest of the shed. _Oh Josh..._ I caught up with the stranger, but he abruptly stopped me, "Wait! Don't... Move... Be very quiet..." I could feel my legs turning to jelly. They just started shaking, but I stiffened them to prevent them from moving anymore. I wanted to turn my head to look around, and I could now see that I was holding my breath. Finally after a few seconds, the stranger nodded and we kept walking. I let out an inaudible exhale. Though through the bushes an trees, I could hear running and crunching. I panicked at first and the stranger grabbed my shoulder, "RUN! GO NOW!"

I did what he told me to do as he shoved me in front of him so I could be ahead. "Oh my god... Oh god oh god oh god oh-" I interrupted for a second as I shrieked to see a long, skinny figure jumping in front of me, hissing. The stranger blew flames at it and scared it off for a moment. "Holy shit...!" I panted.

I prepared my rifle, and the stranger started to seem a bit frazzled too, "We're out in the open. We gotta GET OUTTA HERE-" He was cut off, as that thing came brushing across his neck and head. I gasped halfway through, and screamed as his head came falling off, bleeding out and collapsing not too far from me. "Oh god! Holy fuck...!"

I finally snapped out of it when I saw that thing again, this time it leapt out at me. I could feel its saliva spit out as I pulled the trigger, hoping at I was aiming in the right place. A large _BANG_ rang out, and I saw that it was now laying down. I smiled a bit only for a split second. _I'm getting better._ I finally turned around. Running for dear life. Now I was glad Chris wasn't out here.

As I ran, I kept looking back. I heard its same, blood-curling inhuman shriek. I could see its shadows leaping towards me. I turned around, shooting it again and laughing once, "Ha! Eat that!" I turned around, seeing that I was right at the lodge. I screamed out for anyone's name that came to mind. Anyone that was alive in there, I desperately called out for. But my hope was soon ripped away from me as soon as I felt something scaly and slim swiftly swipe across my leg. I tripped, dropping the gun and landing onto my stomach as the stinging pain slowly crept up.

Then I felt the Wendigo again, only grabbing me and swiftly beginning to take me away from the lodge.


	13. Chapter 13

_04:52_

 *** Chris' POV***

"They've been out there too long," I murmured.

"Chris?" I nearly jumped at the sound of Ashley's voice, now remembering that she was with me the entire time while Sam and Mike were down in the basement.

"They're not coming back. _Damn..._ I shouldn't've let Leslie go out that easily."

The two of us stayed silent for a moment, and Ashley breathed out, "She's strong, Chris. You know she is."

I grinned a bit, "Stronger than me, honestly."

"And... Well think about it. Josh was pretty nuts so... Maybe they could just be struggling to get him back."

"Yeah. I suppose..."

"They'll all be okay-"

We were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream, "CHRIS! OH MY GOD! ASHLEY!"

"Shit, that's Leslie!" I exclaimed, running over to the door to see her almost limping towards me. Even from where I stood, I could see her eyes were widened and her skin was pale, almost like she's seen a ghost. But as I ran out to come get her, another screech filled the winter air and I stopped so suddenly to see some slim and tall creature, sweeping across my sister's legs and causing her to fall. She dropped the rifle, falling forward before the creature took her by her legs again, dragging her back into the forest. "Holy shit, Leslie!" I cried out, lunging forward for the gun and chasing after that fucking thing! I could hear Ashley calling me back, but I kept running, running ahead with all sudden energy that sprung through me. Leslie's screams were keeping me running; Those desperate cries for help.

At the same time though, they were just screams of pain. _What the fuck is that thing doing to her?!_ They were out of my view. They were up in the trees and pitch dark. At one point, I aimed the rifle up to see if I could shoot at the creature, but denied the shot to prevent the risk of shooting Leslie instead. Soon though, her screams faded, growing quiet within seconds. Then that's when the area of trees ended, and instead I nearly met my fate to a cliff. I gasped, looking down and seeing that the end of the cliff was blocked off by a gust of snow. I stayed still, feeling like I was losing all control of myself as I dropped to my knees. "Oh god... Leslie!"

There was no response. Not even a scream. "Holy shit... Leslie, no. Please... Don't be dead."

"Chris!" I heard Ashley's voice trailing up behind me, but I didn't turn around. I stayed staring down at the cliff. I felt her set a hand on my shoulder and she crouched down with me, "Chris... Chris..." I finally looked at her, and she opened her mouth to say something next. But nothing came out. She covered her mouth, shocked, "Oh my god, Chris... I am so sorry-"

"I'm gonna..." I swallowed, "I'm gonna kill that fucking thing."

Ashley began to sob onto my shoulder, "Oh god, Leslie..."

"Guys!" Mike's voice followed behind, "Guys, what're you doing out here!"

"Leslie's dead, Mike! She's gone!" Ashley cried.

"What- Guys, c'mon! That Wendigo could still be out there-"

"That 'Wendigo' dragged my fucking sister away, Mike!" I raised my voice getting up, and pushing him away as he set his hand on me. He stayed silent, swallowing hard. All that filled the silence were Ashley's sobs and the wind. Mike finally shook his head, "I'm sorry, man."

* * *

 _06:10_

 *** Josh's POV***

My breathing quaked. My hands were on my head, and was rocking back and fourth. I was murmuring a bunch of bullcrap to myself as I also heard the voice of my psychiatrist, "I wonder how much of these 'sessions' are of any help to you now..." His voice echoes off of the walls. "You just won't listen to me and things seem pretty... fucked up."

"So -I'm gonna leave you now, Josh. It's time you've learned there's more to be afraid of than can be dreamt up by the unhinged imagination of a self-indulgent, spoiled little brat! You had so many people who cared about you; who were willing to help! But at every turn you chose to push them away... And now you're all alone..." I could hear a short scream before it was quickly cut off by a short, soft thud. "Though by sound of things, you won't be alone for long." He whispered, "No you won't be alone for long. Deep breaths, Josh. Deep breaths..." As I looked up, no one was there.

I worked through the pain in my body. I didn't even care about it. All I could really focus on was my own world beginning to collapse right on top of me. I remembered what had happened before I blacked out. I saw... Something, though I didn't know what it was. It was inhuman, and it dragged my right out from the stool I sitting in. Now I'm left here in this dark and disgusting place. But Dr. Hill was right. I'm not alone. There's someone with me. She sounds familiar, and she sings in a taunting tune, _"Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, Dormez vues?"_ Someone else joins in, another female. I'm not comforted by this at all.

I back away from the voices coming towards me, murmuring, "No. Not again. Get away." I'm scooting around in all directions. My sisters are here. Their voices are everywhere! God... They laugh at me, and I stand up, shouting, "Get away from me!" I shield my ears to block them out of my head. "No! You're dead!" More and more voices surround me. My psychiatrist, saying, "You can't change what happened last year," along with Hannah and Beth chuckling, "We miss you, Josh. Come with us." Then Chris' voice began to speak, sounding like he was upset, "You're a coward! Are you insane?!"

"I don't take orders from you..." I whispered to myself, "You can't tell me what to do... You can't tell me what to do anymore..." I hear a psycho's voice laughing in my head maniacally; my own voice laughing at me.

* * *

 _06:12_

 *** Leslie's POV***

I arched against the heavy soreness in a my body as the ringing in my ears began to fade away. "Ow..." I could feel stings and scratches on my face, arms, and legs. For a moment I just laid there, still in shock after the whole trip with the Wendigo. A large headache was pounding in my hears, but I also heard stammering and shouting, which forced me to open my eyes. _What the...?_ I could see a figure dressed in blue overalls and a blue shirt, standing and backing away from someone or something. Yet I found odd was there was no one there. When my vision finally cleared though, I saw that it was Josh, almost crying, "You can't tell me what to do anymore..."

 _Who's he talking to?_ I scramble to get up, nearly losing my balance as I did so. I walk over to him, but stop when Josh begins to murmur, "No! No no You're not real!"

"Josh?" I finally limp over quickly to him, setting a hand on his shoulder, "Josh, what are you-"

"No! Get away from me! Get away!" He turns and shoves me back onto the ground. My mouth gapped open at the pain I was in, and I looked back up at him. He looks in my direction, but he doesn't look down at me, whimpering, "I didn't-... I didn't want you to die... I swear!"

"I know," I mocked him a bit, "'It was just a prank, bro'-"

"N-No no n-n-no... I don't take orders from you! Why are you doing this?!"

"Josh, what the hell is your issue?!"

"Leave me alone! Why are you doing this?!"

"..."


	14. Chapter 14

_05:35_ _(One hour and seventeen minutes earlier)_

 ***** **Sam's POV** *****

I was moving as fast as I could, the thoughts of the Wendigo were sprawling around my head. First, we were safe in basement, locked in with the stranger's stuff. We all know he's dead, but damn that guy came prepared. He knew everything about this creature on the mountain. They were once humans, only now mutated from them. Mike was out there, going through the tunnel that connects from the lodge to sanatorium, and we don't know how far he is. While Ashley and Chris stayed at the lodge, I went out to look for him before he was eaten by the Wendigo. I found myself walking through some mines, which had platforms that really weren't stable. Everything in here could just collapse right onto me. In one hand I carried a pipe a found on the way through mines, and I felt good taking it especially after hearing some faint shrieks ahead.

I prepared it as I approached a heavy metal door. Though I was suddenly stopped in my tracks when I saw Mike bursting through the door, followed by the shrieks. As he grunted and tried pushing it shut. There was a hot, flaming and tall creature that broke through, hopping on top of him and trying to eat his face off. Immediately, I took action, "Hey! FATTY! OVER HERE!" I swung the pipe towards its jaw, stunning it and taking another swing at it again. This time, the head fell off, and it collapsed. Mike got up and closed the door, securing it locked with the handgun he had. "You alright?" He panted.

"Uh, define 'alright'," I sighed.

"Alive, for a start."

"Yeah, yeah alive's good."

He stood up straight, "The hell are you doing here anyway?"

"I was gonna warn you about the Wendigos."

"I think I got it," He shrugged, "Let's find a way down to where this fucker lives."

We walked away from the door, going deeper into the mines while still catching our breath from earlier. "I was not prepared for how ugly that thing would be up close," I commented.

"Yeah..." Mike sighed, "So I noticed something weird about it..."

"Uh... What?"

"The Wedigo- It had a scar."

"So?"

"I've seen it before."

"What're you talking about?"

"I saw these old pictures of some guy with that same scar - and he was turning into a Wendigo."

I paused, "You're kidding."

"It was one of the miners who'd been trapped, back in the 50s... In the cave in. Which means that thing is 80 years old. At least."

"Spunky for an old timer."

"They cleaned the place out... Killed a lot of people."

"They? You mean there's more of them?"

"Oh yeah."

"How many?"

Mike was silent, hesitating, "Too many."

We both stayed silent and kept walking, and I could hear water dripping not too far from here. "I think we're close. To the lair."

"How can you tell?" Mike inquired.

"I don't know... I just... Feel really terrible all of a sudden."

"Hm. Ditto."

We suddenly approached a large pool of filthy water, and not too far from there was a water wheel. I groaned, "I really don't wanna go in there."

"There's no other way through."

I crouched down, sitting on the ledge where my feet hovered over the water, "Fine... I'm going in."

Mike did before I could, and he froze for a moment, "Come on, it's okay."

"You sure...?"

"I'm not dead yet."

"Famous last words."

I leapt in, shivering already, "Brrrrrrrrr! It's freezing. I can't feel my fingers."

We waded through, doing so quickly so we could get out the water. I trailed off to the left and saw a something small and flat. Mike followed, but it only felt worse as we got out of the water as a gentle breeze blew by in the mines. I shook off and walked over to the flat object laying on the small shore. It was a torn journal, and Mike cursed, "Shit. This looks like Hannah's writing." I felt sick all of a sudden. Reading through each page as each entry became darker. I read aloud, "'I'm sorry Beth... I have no choice. It's the only way I could survive anymore. If someone finds this I'm sorry. I had to... I had no choice.'" _Oh god..._

"What does it mean...? Jesus..."

I flipped to the last two entries. Her hand writing changed. It was saying that she didn't feel any more pain, and the last one was nothing but scribbles. I stood up, and Mike seemed paranoid, "So... So what? What does that mean? Did she kill her too? Her own sister?!"

"I-I don't know!" I shook my head, feeling like I was going to throw up.

"How the hell could they even stay alive down here?!"

"I don't know, Michael!"

"There has to be an answer down here!"

"Mike... Just... Calm down."

I couldn't imagine it. Hannah and Beth were alive and we didn't even know it?! Or Hannah was?! I don't know! I swallowed back the bile coming up my stomach and breathed out, "We should keep moving." I didn't waste any time getting back in the water despite how fucking freezing it was. As we went forward, the water got deeper, up to the bottom of our breasts and we became colder. I held back the shivers and cries and followed Mike up to the next shore. "We made it. We made it," Mike exhaled and he helped me up to the ground again. Ahead was a door, and I was just praying it was unlocked. I tugged on the handle, and it swung open so quickly I nearly fell. Both Mike and I actually did fall as a small wave of water brushed over our feet, and along with that was... A head! I shrieked and Mike stuttered as to worn me that more heads were coming my way. Both of us stood up, shaking and Mike pointed to one head, "That's... That's Jess..."

Her jaw was missing from her mouth, and her eyes were nearly rolled up in the back of her head. Finally, I did throw up, disturbed by all of this. But I couldn't get my eyes off of it. As we walked into the room, we saw headless bodies, handing from the ceiling by hooks, and I recognized all of them. The stranger, Matt, Emily, and Jessica... I groaned in disgust, I thought I was gonna puke again. Mike leaned up against the wall, quickly snapping out of it and looking through the boards of the wall, "Woah hang on. I think I saw something."

* * *

 _06:14_

 *** Leslie's POV***

I wrapped my scarf around the bloody leg. Everything was beginning to get a bit fuzzy and I sort of wanted to cry from the pain I was in. But really all I could focus on were Josh's little rambles, repeating the same thing over and over.

And over again.

I was actually getting sick of listening to him cry and scream, but I knew that something wasn't right with him. He wasn't in our world anymore. He was in his own. I sighed, "Okay, that's it." I pushed myself off of the ground, nearly falling back. I limped over to him, not being cautious about anything. He whined out, "You can't tell me what to do anymore-"

"Josh, for fuck's sake," I turned him around, "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

I open handedly smacked him across that stupid face. He stopped rambling, and he looked at me, stunned. I was a bit surprised with myself too. I never thought I could hit that hard. Or at least... I never though I would hit anyone, except when it comes to Chris on some special occasions. "L-Leslie?"

"Hey," I panted, "Welcome back to Earth, Josh."

"D-Don't hit me... Please."

"Well, how else would I bring you back to yourself?"

"Leslie! Josh!" We turned to hear Sam and Mike's voice. Sure enough, the two were there, running towards us. I sighed in relief, "Oh my god..."

"Guys..." Sam began, "Hannah was down here for... Weeks? A month?"

"Shit..." I let out a shaky breath, "Are you serious?"

"She dug Beth up-"

"Sam-" Mike set a hand on her shoulder.

"Mike-"

"Let's just get the fuck out of here."

"Okay," Sam addressed Josh, "Josh, do you have the key for the cable car?"

He nodded, reaching in his pocket, "Y-Yeah, here."

"Oh good..." Sam pointed out the light shining down from the cave we were trapped in, "See that over there? That mean's there's a direct way out. Come on."

"I can't climb that," I said softly, putting a hand in my hair as I felt lightheaded. Mike's reassuring hand was placed on my cheek to make me look up, "Don't pass out on us yet, Lee."

Sam seemed annoyed, "Okay. If you can help me up, I can tell the others we're okay."

"Yeah... Yeah good."

"You bring Josh and Leslie back the way we came and we'll all meet at the lodge."

Mike walked over to Sam, who boosted her up on the rocks and she began to climb upwards. He turned to Josh and I, "Alright. Let's go."

* * *

 **Readers! Readers! Tonight I'm seeing Andy Black! *Squeals* I'm so excited!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello readers! I apologize for my absence from this story. I've started getting into different fandoms recently that I got too carried away, but worry not! I'm back here and am ready to finish this bad boy off!**

* * *

 _06:14_

"Mike..." I began, "Is Chris... Are they okay?"

"Yeah, they're waiting for us back at the lodge," Mike patted my back, "Chris sure as hell is worried about you."

"Oh... Haha. He must be..." My smile faded, "That thing didn't kill me though. It just carried me through, dropped me here and..." I turned around to Josh, who was sort of slumping as he walked, "Left me here with this nut job. It's weird."

"Let's be glad it didn't kill you."

We went through an open wooden door, where inside I could literally feel my stomach drop. I gasped, putting a hand over my mouth, feeling as if I were about to throw up. For a split second, I saw a hanging, headless body belonging to Emily. Before I could turn and look at anything else, my vision was immediately blocked out by Mike's hand covering my eyes. "M-Mike..." I stuttered.

"I know..." Mike spoke, swallowing, "Everyone else... They're gone..."

"I didn-..." Josh choked, "I didn't want them to die!" Until we were out of that room, I finally had permission to see again. The silence was filled with Josh's shaky breaths. I nearly tripped on something that I thought was a rock. A somewhat squishy, and moist rock. But when I looked down, Matt's decapitated head laid at my feet, eyes rolled back into his head. Before I could scream, I shushed up by Mike, who pulled me in closer to him and I just held onto him, crying silently. _What the hell am I seeing right now?_ "I'm gonna be sick..." I whimpered, "I'm gonna be sick."

"We're almost out of here..." Mike whispered, forcing me to move forward. The ground became wet as we walked, which led us to a shallow pond. "We have to go through here?" I groaned.

"Leads to the way out," Mike shrugged, hopping in before helping me get into the ass-freezing water. Literally. I could barely move for a minute, gasping quickly as the water froze my legs and waist. I clenched my fingers before moving my legs, Josh following behind. When I turned around, Josh was looking around as if he saw something before slowly making his way towards me. Then from the corner of my eye, I could've sworn I saw a line of ripples in the water. I breathed out. _Just a bad night. You're just seeing things..._

Mike suddenly stopped where he was, screaming something out before he was pulled into the water. "Oh god, Mike-!" I too screamed before seeing the Wendigo emerge from the water, screeching at Josh and I. I immediately froze, Josh stammering, "N-No. You're not real! No, you're not!"

"Don't move, Josh-" I said almost in a whisper, and the Wendigo paid no mind to me, who stalked towards Josh before wrapping its scaley hands on Josh's face. Then again, he shouted, "H-Hannah!"

 _W-What?_ The wendigo froze, staring down at Josh. _That wendigo is the missing Hannah Washington?_ "Hannah" lifted her human brother out of the water, screeching at him before dragging him away. Josh screamed and struggled, and I just stared until it was out of my sight. "Hannah..." I whispered almost inaudible, "That... Was you..."

"Leslie!" I sharp whisper caught my attention, and a turned my head over to see Mike, hiding behind a rock and nearly shaking. I didn't waste any time staggering over him, tripping and having my torso fall into the water as I approached. "What the _shit_ was that?!" I questioned, panicked and confused.

"Shh!" Mike stopped me from talking abruptly, but it didn't really work.

"That thing was Hannah! What the fuck?! A-And it took Mike-"

"Leslie! God, you're gonna draw it back in here, and maybe more of them."

"M-More? There's more of them, Mike?!"

"Yes, and if you keep crying like that, we'll end up just like the others. They were back in the frigging sanatorium, locked up in the basement!"

"And you're saying they broke out-" I was interrupted by a violent, shaky cough. "Alright there?"

"No..." I answered, out of breath, "But I guess I'll live."

"They're all locked up, Lee; Some of them burned and dead. But like 'Grandpa' said, 'A lot of crazy shit can happen on this mountain'."

He lead both of us out of the little wading pool, but it didn't feel any better. My body was completely numb and cold, and the scratch on my leg wasn't really helping. It stung like a bitch, and the scarf that was once wrapped around it began to slip off. I took it off, seeing how it now rendered useless. I gust of cold air blew against our wet clothes, sending shivers down our skin. Then as we went out through another wooden door, we were once again met with the wind and snow. Then stepping through the white fluff on the ground wasn't very comforting with our feet wet. "You know the way back?" I asked, softer this time.

"A little..." Mike shrugged, "I was a bit busy being chased by Wendigo."

I nodded, trying to think of something other than the freezing temperature. _Think happy thoughts._ _This is just another stroll in the woods. On the way to grandma's house._ My happy thoughts were interrupted by a small whimper coming from behind us. Mike and I turned around, looking down only to see that white-furred wolf from earlier sniffing at my heels. "Well hello there," I couldn't help but smile, rubbing my fingers through its furry head.

"He was a big help tonight," Mike commented, letting it sniff his hand.

"I wish I could take it home. But it's tamed only for out here."

I jumped at a familiar screech in the air, and the white wolf pointed his nose to the sky, whimpering before running off into the woods.

"Hope he finds someplace safe," I sighed.

"He's wolf," Mike said, "A very smart one too."

I felt a bit relaxed now, and it made me forget that there was a cannibalistic creature ready to rip out our flesh and guts. Soon enough, we approached the shed where we tied up Josh, along with another familiar path. The screech we heard earlier got closer than before. "We should... Move faster..." I said almost in a 'sing-song-tone'. Mike agreed silently before we turned our walk into a sprint. Soon enough, we could hear Sam's desperate cries to be let into the lodge. _Quiet Sam!_ Mike made the decision to sprint ahead before Sam could scream any louder, and I half limped the rest of the way up the hill. I ended up sliding and falling into the snow, but I was completely numb to feel anything on the ground.

"Not cool..." I groaned before getting up and running to meet up with Sam and Mike. "Hey," I panted.

"God, you guys look terrible," Sam whispered, sound a bit sympathetic as well.

"We're gonna look worse if we stay out here," Mike said.

"Is it locked?"

Sam picked up a rock, throwing it into the window of the door. _Well, the place is dead anyway..._ Sam unlocked the door, opening it and I immediately ran in, heading towards the basement. "Chris!" I nearly fell down the steps, but kept going. "Holy shit..."

The temperature became colder even more, but not as cold as before. "Chris!" Then finally, a distant, "Leslie?"

I was suddenly overjoyed. _He's fucking okay!_ "Chris, oh my god!"

When I finally finished descending the steps, I was immediately met with my brother walking around the corner. I tripped into him, falling into the warmth of his big, blue coat. "Holy fuck, Leslie," Chris pulled me in tighter, "I swear I really thought you were dead."

"No," I sniffed, "Mom and dad would've killed you."

We pulled away, and Chris looked at me, "What the hell happened to you, baby sis?"

"I'll tell when we get out of here, big brother."

I was so happy to be with him that I didn't even realize Ashley was standing behind him. Our sibling reunion didn't last long when a loud shriek rang out. I clung onto Chris, who slowly backed me towards the exit. "Oh my god..." Ashley began, backing away, "IT'S IN HERE, GUYS-!"

Suddenly, leaping out at Ashley, a wendigo, followed by another! "Oh fuck! Run!" Chris pushed me, and I ignored the pain in my leg. I sprinted back up the steps with all of my energy. Then up ahead we saw Mike and Sam, "Guys run! Go!"

They were startled as we just came bursting through like that, but they listened anyway. _This is it. We'll just waltz right through the front door and it'll done-_

We froze once more, and I took in a breath to stay silent. Mike sure wasn't lying about earlier. The living room was crawling with Wendigos, leaping off the walls and hissing at one another. Chris and I held onto each other tightly, almost to the point where our knuckles were turning white. Two of them were going at each other. Slowly, while they were brawling, Chris and I slowly crept forward, hugging the walls. The room was now beginning to fill up with the scent of gas, and Mike was making his way towards the lights. I wanted to go after him, but Chris held me back.

Suddenly, just as we were getting close to the exit, Chris pulled me in close, almost like a bear hug. Our eyes were met with one of the wendigos, walking towards us. I closed my eyes, tears beginning to weld up. I didn't want to see what was going to happen next. Then, I felt that it wasn't looming over us, and when I did open my eyes, it was once again going at it with another wendigo. This time, the taller one finished it off, beheading the smaller one as its final blow. At the opportunity Chris, tugged me forward and we ran out the front door.

As Chris stepped out into the snow, I stayed on the deck, waiting for Mike and Sam to join our escape. Mike was squeezing a lightbulb with his bare hand, and Sam distracted the remaining Wendigo. I felt Chris behind me again, and he tried to pull me away from the door. I pushed him off, but wanted to clutch onto him again as the wendigo grabbed Sam.

And it _impaled_ her.

I gasped, and Mike saw what had happened. "S-Sam..." I whispered. We all watched as her lifeless body bled out on the floor. Then the wendigo faced us. Mike suddenly flipped the switch next to him, and before I knew it, a small spark from the broken lightbulb blew up into giant flames, spreading through out the house. The water in my eyes were dried out so quickly as Mike pushed us away from the burning lodge.

Then we were all pushed to ground as the entire structure blew up into more flames, the force pushing us down onto the ground. It felt like forever for me to recover from the fall, and I only managed to roll onto my back and sit up. I was speechless while looking at the roaring flames of the house. But really, we all couldn't say a word. I looked up at the sky. Dawn was peaking through the clouds. In addition, a helicopter flew over our heads, and I found the strength to stand up as it began to descend to the ground.

* * *

 _08:59_

I expected to be flown to a hospital or some place safe. But instead, we were flown directly to a police station. My leg was bandaged on the way, and they said we all could get full care for our injuries once we tell them what happened on the mountain. It was bullcrap. I was the last to be interviewed, and since I entered the room, I barely said anything or looked up at the camera being filmed in front of me.

"Leslie," The investigator began, "Is there anything you can tell us? Anything at all?"

"I want to go home," I murmured, "I don't want to be here right now, and incase you haven't noticed, we all have had a pretty shitty evening."

"You will soon. We promise."

I sighed, "My brother dragged me up to that mountain," I chuckled a bit, "Or he'd tell my embarrassing moments to everyone. I wish he did that instead, but... If he died up there and I wasn't there..." I paused.

"Your friends called us from a radio tower near your area, saying there was someone else on the mountain with you?"

"Or so we thought. But it was _goddamn_ Josh. He was absolutely insane. I mean, playing that prank on us was just too far... Then when I thought things couldn't get any worse, everyone started dropping dead."

"Was it him? Did he kill...?"

"Oh no. He may be crazy, but he doesn't kill. He... I mean... He was dragged away... It dragged him away."

"It?"

I nodded.

"What dragged him away?"

I looked up, "His missing baby sister."

"Missing? Did you try to stop her? Do you know where they are?"

"Honestly, mister. If you want the answer to that, you'll just need to go dig in the mines."

* * *

 **Aaaaannnnnddddd that's it! Thank you all for sticking with me! I wasn't really good with OC stories (Which I wrote before I started fanfiction), but I'm so glad you guys thought this one was good. I might make an extra chapter or a separate one-shot for this story and if I don't... Thanks a bunch for reading!**


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